


A Special Mage (Ike x OC)

by Snowyrabbit



Category: Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: F/M, Fantasy, Fluff, Magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:53:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 76,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26138440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snowyrabbit/pseuds/Snowyrabbit
Summary: Serena, a branded mage with mysterious powers born off the coast of Tellius has escaped the clutches of her captors, only to be plagued by their tracking her every move. Worst of all, with her powers gone, she can do nothing to stop them. But when she encounters a small group of Crimean soldiers, they appear to be her only escape from a life on the run, and possibly the only way she can restore her lost powers.However, strange things begin happening within the army shortly after her arrival, jeopardizing her safety and her place among them.With the help of her newfound allies, Serena builds unexpected connections and works to defeat her foes once and for all.
Relationships: Ike/Original Character
Comments: 22
Kudos: 6





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> \- This story vaguely follows the later parts of Path of Radiance, but I have changed many plot/game elements to suit the story better. So, there will probably be inaccuracies/things that do not happen in the game
> 
> \- This may turn out to be a relatively long read, so "prepare yourself"
> 
> \- I will try to update this every week, probably on the weekends 
> 
> \- The most important thing of all: enjoy the adventure!

“Serena, come inside.” My mother called. I was sitting in our backyard, playing with the dirt and staring into the woods. Sunlight poured over the area, casting a golden glow on the trees and grass. It was that time of year where cicadas were creating an uproar for most of the day.

I struggled to stand up, but I gathered enough strength to limp back into the house. I broke my leg not long ago after falling down from a tree I foolishly thought I could climb. 

Mother eyed me worriedly. She was a fair skinned woman with faded hair, a heron laguz. She would have had large white wings extending from her back, but she no longer had them because I, her child, had both beorc and laguz blood. It is a well known fact that when a laguz has children with a beorc, the laguz loses their powers as well as their defining features. But even so, the herons’ ability to appear eternally youthful somehow seemed to live on within my mother despite the number of years that had passed since she birthed me.

There was another woman in the house with my mother. A kind looking young woman with deep blue hair and eyes. There was a strange blue medallion around her neck, and a beautiful sapphire ring around her finger, matching her eyes in both color and depth.

“Serena, honey.” Mother said. “Do you remember her?” She motioned to her friend, the blue-haired woman who I never remembered the name of.

I nodded shyly, clutching my leg.

“She has come to visit from a place far away. She can help you.” 

I looked up at the relatively unfamiliar woman. She gazed at me sweetly and sat me down in a chair in the kitchen. “It’ll all be better soon, sweetie.” She smiled, holding up a glowing white staff to my shin. 

I watched with wide brown eyes as magic happened right before me. The bone that was sticking out of my leg started to sink beneath my pale skin which eventually closed around the once gaping wound. I gasped. “Mommy, it’s all better!” I smiled excitedly, showing the big gap left behind by one of my baby teeth. 

The ocean haired woman laughed and stood up again to see my mom’s pleased face, watching me while I ran back outside as if I had never been injured in the first place.

“She’s an adventurous soul, isn’t she.” Mother’s friend said. “She reminds me of my son, a little bit.” She smiled.

“Oh really?” Mother said.

Her friend nodded. “You said she’s supposed to have unique powers?” 

“That’s what the oracle told us. She should start lessons from the Masters in a few years.” Mother said. 

“Hmm. She’s going to excel. I can feel it.” 

After that day, I only saw that woman a few more times. She stopped visiting my family at some point, and when I asked, mother said it was because she got very busy back in her homeland. I never knew what made her so busy, but I just accepted that explanation, and my life carried on. 

My life, to put it simply, was rather interesting. Much of that interesting-ness came from being what’s known as a branded. That is, a person who contains both beorc and laguz blood. In most lands, it’s both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because branded people are said to have special abilities, superior to those of beorc (average humans), and different from those of laguz (those who can transform into an animal). What those abilities are vary from branded to branded, however. Some have supernatural healing abilities, others have extra stamina and strength. Those are common examples. But when I was born, an oracle said that I would have a particularly rare one, though nobody knew what it would be yet. We would have to find out naturally. 

So how could this possibly be a curse? Well, for one, sometimes the weakness of the laguz parent transfers over to the branded child. For example, beast laguz are weak to fire magic, so a branded with a beast laguz parent may also have a weakness to fire. Though this only happens rarely, I was unlucky enough to inherit my mother’s weakness to wind magic (yay me). But the most cursed part of being branded is that you are usually shunned by the rest of society. Laguz could easily sense your strange blood, and they would mostly treat you as if you were invisible. Rarely, they would hunt you down like a piece of meat. Beorc on the other hand weren’t as keen. But if a brand was discovered, that individual was usually harassed, sometimes even executed. Needless to say, it is best for a branded to remain hidden.

On my home island, however, things were a bit different. It was located far off the coast of the continent of Tellius, and our culture had evolved separately from theirs after generations of isolation. Rather than having racially segregated regions, the island was homogeneously populated with branded people and their beorc/laguz parents. Historically, it acted as a safe haven for interracial couples who feared rejection on Tellius, but it was never on any official maps. The only way anyone could find out about the island was through the people in the now lost kingdom of Hatari, another colony located in a remote area on Tellius where all races live in harmony. Over many centuries, word of both the island and Hatari slowed to a halt until no more than a few souls were aware of their existence. 

So there I lived on the island in peace for years. I spent my childhood exploring the backyard, and helping the wounded or stray animals that mother brought inside. As I grew older, I started to show even more of an affinity for nature. Most of my days were spent outside in the island’s many fields and forests, and I would play with the wild animals and dig in the dirt. If I wasn’t out on adventures, I would relax at home watching the trees dance in the wind during the day, and stargaze with my father during the nights. 

When I looked at the stars, I would find myself wondering many things. What else could be out there? What haven’t I discovered yet? Who else under the same set of stars was wondering the same things? Stuff like that. 

After my parents observed my tendencies over the years, they figured my powers must have been related, so they finally brought me to the clan of Masters when they were more sure of that little hunch. And sure enough, they were right. The Masters were a group of 6 powerful branded mages, each with nature-related abilities. When they heard what my parents had told them, they eagerly took me in as their 7th member.

From that day forward, the 7 Masters were as follows:  
1\. Arvid - Bender of Trees. He was a tall and burly man with light brown hair and striking green eyes. Despite his stature, he had no idea how to use weapons, but he could control plants and use them to his advantage.

2\. Branson - Bringer of Necrosis. One of the younger Masters who straight up looked like a sickly vampire even though he was perfectly healthy. He looked frail, his skin was ashen, and his irises were so dark you couldn’t tell them apart from his pupils. It was a fitting appearance, given that he could rot away the flesh of his victims. 

3\. Ylva - Wild Spirit. Another young Master. She had rather sharp features. Slanted, cat like eyes, a youthful face, deep purple hair, and elven ears. She had the ability to transform into any creature, from the lowly gnat to a mighty dragon. 

4\. Solfrid - Sun’s Spear. He was the eldest of the bunch, sporting fiery red hair that resembled a lion’s mane. Fitting, as I believe his father was a lion laguz. The man was able to harness the energy of the sun and intensify it. At night, however, his powers were practically useless.

5\. Torvald - Thunderstorm. This man specialized in conducting electricity, and even summoning powerful storms at will. His spiky, electric blue hair complemented his caramel skin, and it was neatly styled to stand straight up. 

6\. Helga - Goddess of Winter. The second eldest Master was a wise woman with pale flesh, snow white hair, and icy blue eyes. She had the ability to freeze anything and everything that contained water, and was capable of destroying miles of land with her frost powers.

7\. Serena - Earth’s Soul. I was the newest and youngest Master. I had the power to heal and fertilize damaged land, aid the growth of plants, and could even use any earthly material to unleash devastating attacks. 

I learned almost everything I know about magic from them. Solfrid was by far the most knowledgeable Master, so he did most of the instructing. But they each helped teach me all the way from the basics to the most advanced topics like how to channel the essence of magic. They all preached about how magic came from within, and that our special blood fueled its power, so from then on, I lived by that principle. 

Once I reached a proficient level of mastery over my powers, I was instructed to write a spell. That’s _write_. Unlike most mages that simply read from spell tomes, we created our own because existing spell tomes just didn’t make the cut. The task served as one of many tests that we had to take to prove our worth. When they presented me with it, I went to work straight away, spending many days and nights crafting the ideal spell book, perfectly tailored to my particular skills. In that time, I ended up creating not one, but _two_ spell tomes. I called them Jörð and Feigr. Jörð channeled the earth itself, allowing me to use it as a weapon. Upon casting the spell, the soil would solidify and shoot upward in the form of sharp, rocky spikes, meant to impale anybody in their path. It was a strong spell, but nothing compared to Feigr. This spell was pure destruction. It was ideally supposed to use the very core of the planet to attack and completely obliterate anything it touched, but I was never able to use it to its full potential, if it was even possible. If it was, I simply wasn’t strong enough yet. 

Despite my growing success in magic, my life at home wasn’t as fortunate. I slowly watched my family fall apart over the years. My mother and father grew to dislike one another, only staying together because of me. But eventually, even that wasn’t enough to keep them sane. They kept arguing about the dark sun and the sword, or the sword of the dark sun, something like that. But because of all the arguments and tension, mother eventually got fed up with her life on the island, and one day, she was gone. Word has it that she fled to Tellius, never to be seen again. 

After my mother left, my father started to go crazy. Her disappearance sparked within him a strange obsession with herons and beauty. Part of it was probably because my mother was a beautiful heron, but this was next level crazy. He started collecting artwork, portraits and statues of herons, and he read all about herons and the beauty of art. Not only that, but he started to believe he was the most beautiful man alive. I mean, he WAS a handsome man, but he became uglier and uglier the crazier he got. His hair started to fall out, and he stopped taking care of himself like he used to. Then he, too, left the island one day without saying anything. Probably in pursuit of a new life revolving around beauty and art or whatever. 

As for me, I stayed on the island. I had no choice. The Masters were my family from then on, even though I wasn’t that close with any of them. I mostly kept to myself, but I did have some friends. My closest friends were a couple of beast laguz, but I had some casual beorc friends as well. 

I continued my pursuit of knowledge and magic for quite some time, but one day, everything changed. It seemed that some people on Tellius suddenly became aware of the existence of our little island, and they were not seeking peace. Nay, they sought chaos. Before we knew it, our little land became infested with money hungry thieves looking to take advantage of the spoils that our hidden paradise had to offer. As Masters, it was our duty to fend them off and protect everyone, but eventually, even we weren’t enough. There were too many foes, and they just kept coming from seemingly nowhere. Then came the fateful day during a battle where a group of our enemies brought with them a new strategy. They fired something at us, mysterious objects made of a nearly unbreakable material that latched onto our ankles, rendering our abilities useless. We could no longer attack. We tugged at the strange anklets, but to no avail. The thugs closed in on our struggling selves, captured us, and locked us away. We were separated, and I never saw my fellow Masters again. God knows what happened to them, but if it was anything like what happened to me, I pray for their souls. 

What happened to me? I was first thrown into a cage and hauled onto the front of a grimy ship. I was forced to watch my island burn, fall to ruin, and disappear into the distance as we set sail to Tellius. They laughed and cheered about going against Kun Jin’s orders, too, whoever that was. 

When we reached Tellius, they opened my cage and I was able to slip by them with an unprecedented burst of speed before they could grab me. It sure as hell surprised their idiotic selves, but it shocked me too. 

I ran in an unknown direction hoping to find salvation, but I was unable to find civilization before I was recaptured. After that, those beorc brutes kept me as a prisoner for years. They threatened me into telling them about my powerful earth abilities, and then I became nothing more than a crop-growing machine. From sunup to sun down, I was chained in front of the fields, threatened endlessly into growing crops at hyper speed. At the end of each day, the thugs could sell pounds of rare crops for insane amounts of cash. All because of my efforts. What did I get in return? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nothing but pure torture, that is. I refuse to detail what they did to me. But let me say this, everything that happened forever changed the way I felt about beorc.

I thought this would encompass the rest of my miserable existence. I lost sight of hope until one night. The night I finally escaped. I don’t know how, but I escaped. That’s all that mattered. Ever since then, I was on the run from the goons, never staying in one place for more than a day. Although better than imprisonment, I was still living life in constant fear, always looking over my shoulder. That was no way to live. _There has to be an out_ , I thought. _There must be_.


	2. Take Flight

“Bandits!” Someone shouted in the distance.

_Rats_. My heart rate accelerated as I feared the worst. I had been attempting to escape the likes of those buffoons for days. I had traveled great distances across the continent and hid in countless towns, and yet, they still somehow managed to track me. How? Don’t ask me, because I have no knowledge of any spies that could have been following me or any kind of animal that they could’ve used to track my scent. If any of those fools even had some sort of secret spy, wouldn’t it have been easier if the spy just caught me by themself? Oh, whatever. My main goal at the moment was to escape the bandits. Again. 

I heard some of the townspeople draw out simple weapons like pitchforks, iron swords, and iron lances. The fresh, pleasant air was disturbed by outraged yells and the occasional blood curdling scream of a person being stabbed. The poor, innocent townsfolk probably had no idea why the bandits chose to invade their village, unaware that I, their prime target, had just arrived there. I stood watching from behind a wooden house as innocent people sacrificed their lives for the good of their own town, a town which I had damned. The bandits they were up against were no normal crowd of hooligans. They had a drive for much more than just the goods in people’s houses. They wanted what I had to offer. And people were dying because of it! Damn it, I wished I could have helped the villagers so they at least stood a chance, but I wasn’t trained in the use of any weapon, and I could no longer use my only source of defense! What a heap of garbage that was. 

Heart aching, I made a terrible choice, one that I had made countless times in the past. I turned and bolted out of the village as stealthily as I could. The screams and shouts slowly grew distant as I sped farther from the village, panting heavily the entire way. I could still hear the terrifying shouts as I stopped to catch my breath, staring at the healthy green grass beneath me, which bordered a forest. 

Looking behind me, I could see plumes of smoke rising up in the distance. They were burning down the town! I swore that they wanted me alive, so burning down the place wouldn’t make much sense. But then I realized that it could only plausibly mean one thing. They somehow knew that I had left the town, and thought that the people there had facilitated my escape. My stomach twisted as I started imagining the worst. _They’re after me. They’re probably going to catch up with me and I’ll never be able to roam free again. What if they put me in a dungeon and I have to live there forever? I...no. I can't let that happen. I can't let these screwed up people ruin my life even more than they already have!_ My face flushed with rage and tears as I continued sprinting for my freedom.

The wind rushed past me as my entire body pulsed and ached. I had never run so fast or so far in my entire life. I felt like I had become the wind, or a wild deer separated from its herd, running from a pack of ravenous wolves that could tear me apart in an instant. I heard barbarous yells from afar. My body surged with a certain wild energy coursing into my blood from the ground as I fled. The yells grew closer. I was going to become their prey. I was like a young, naive rabbit who learned more about the world every day, who just wanted to graze peacefully and look at the world with large, innocent eyes. The yells grew even closer. I never asked to be hunted down or disturbed. I never did anything to anyone. 

Embracing the ways of the squirrel, I scampered to the nearest tree as if avoiding a voracious fox. It was my only hope. There was no way in hell I could outrun them this time. I had never climbed too far up a tree before that moment, but my adrenaline was pumping, and it granted me abilities I never knew I had within me. I grasped a nearby tree with my arms and shimmied up the coarse trunk as best I could. The lowest branch would be too obvious a hiding spot, so I climbed up to the highest possible branch that could support my weight (mind you I was very light, so I made it pretty high). I held my breath, being careful not to rustle a single leaf. The yells were echoing throughout the forest. My breath quivered and my stomach swarmed with particularly active butterflies. They were approaching. I heard the leaves crunch beneath their feet and the sound of a little chipmunk scurrying away. 

“Where zat girl…” The head bandit grumbled to himself. He was standing directly beneath my tree. 

_Why? Why did they have to stop here!? Couldn’t they have just kept going? Why why why why why!?_ I screamed in my head as my face turned red, causing tears to escape my eyes. And just my luck, one of them dropped right through a gap in the leaves and onto one of the bandits in the crew. It took all of my willpower and energy not to scream hysterically right then and there.

“Yandel!” He gasped, looking up. “A drop of some liquid fell on my head from up there!” 

“Geordie, you dolt. Why you point out a stupid drop of water? It could’ve come from anywhere.” The bandit leader, Yandel, scolded with a raspy voice.

“But, it don’t rain for a few days now.” He shifted insecurely on his feet, nervousness evident in his voice for disagreeing with the boss.

“So, youz saying it could be the girl?” He peered up with his hideous face, staring through the same gap that my tear fell through. 

It felt like he was looking right at me, but there was no way for me to tell if he could actually see me. I hoped that the leaves and the shade it gave obscured me enough. 

“Heh heh. Come on down little girl. Are youz crying now? Aww boo hoo.” He mocked. 

I made absolutely no sound, despite Yandel’s abhorrent comments. 

He scowled. “Come on girl, I know you’re up there. Make it easier for all of us an’ get down or I’m coming up there. I ain’t promising youz’ll be unscathed when I’m finished.” He bared his crooked, yellow teeth. 

I began sweating profusely. _He must’ve seen me, otherwise he wouldn’t be saying all that. Crap. I’m doomed I’m doomed I’m doomed. What do I do when he starts climbing up this tree?_ I internally panicked. 

“Yandel, I hain’t heard nothing from up in that tree. You sure she’s up there?”

“Pah. Youz’re right. That coward’d probably be shaking so hard the tree’d be naked! She sure know how to stay hidden though. Hah! She probably dun even know how to climb no trees.” Yandel laughed to himself evilly. “C’mon crew. Les keep lookin’. We’ll scare her outta hiding!” Yandel dashed forward, and his grungy crew followed behind him. 

The shouts grew farther into the distance until...bliss. The only sounds I could hear were the soft rustling of the leaves in the light gusts of wind, and the occasional bird. Once I finally descended to the ground, it dawned on me that I had no idea where on the continent I was anymore. I had been on the run so often that I lost my bearings long ago. Though that was the least of my worries. All I needed to be sure of was that I would be travelling in the opposite direction of the way the bandits went. That meant that I would be heading north of the village that I had just run from. Unluckily for me, the forest extended farther above the village than it did toward the south, so I ended up meandering about within it until about dusk the same day. Even though I had not seen bandits for that span of time, I remained on guard. In my situation, you never knew when someone would just...strike. Although I wasn’t being hunted 24/7, it was better to be safe than sorry. 

Eventually, I came across a rather calm river. It was refreshing to hear the flow of the water fill the pleasant, dimly lit air, but I was still nervous. There was a town on the other side, so if I could just make it there and hide somewhere, I’d be safe for the time being. _What if there are more bandits just waiting to ambush me in that town? Oh don't be silly. They went the other way, remember?_ I kept thinking of the worst possible scenario, but there was no time to second guess myself. At this point, I had no choice but to wade across the river, but its unknown depth was scary. It wasn't too far across though, so if it was too deep, I could easily doggy paddle, especially since the current didn't seem too strong. 

Dipping my feet into the relatively frigid water, I shivered. Since the bottom of the river only ever reached about 7ft in depth, I was able to cross it without many difficulties other than the temperature. Now the only problem was finding a place to hide and rest. I noticed many stone houses scattered about, but two buildings in particular caught my eye. A mill, and a farmhouse. The mill door was closed and locked, but the farmhouse had a barn next to it with its doors open. 

If I had arrived at the town just five minutes later, I probably would’ve had to sleep out in the open, because a couple minutes after I snuck into that barn, the owner ushered his cows inside and locked the doors without noticing me hiding behind some hay. The scent of the place half reminded me of life when I was younger. Those long summer nights where I could just immerse myself in the night sky, listening to the crickets chirping. And those bright sunny days where I could relax outside and watch the trees dance in the wind, or just do whatever the heck I wanted. No responsibilities. But those were just distant memories now.


	3. Fate

“Come on, grazin’ time!” A voice interrupted my sleep. I was still behind the large haystack at the back of the barn, so once again, I flew under the farm owner’s radar. It was the break of dawn, and let me tell you, I was _not_ a morning person. At all. But I had to sneak out of there and into the public, so I forced myself awake and upright. 

The cattle paid no mind to me as I tiptoed over to the exit a few minutes later and peered out to make sure the owner wasn't looking. I scanned the field, and thankfully, he was nowhere in sight, so I sprinted behind the barn and slid under the wooden fence, heading toward the rest of the village. 

The houses and buildings were relatively far apart compared to the main cities and busier towns, which created a more open, free feeling as I strolled toward the road in the middle. I stuffed my hands in the deep pockets of my special jacket as I walked, and then it hit me. Looking around at all these villagers, I realized that I stuck out like a sore thumb. Nobody else was wearing a jacket like mine. _How can I be so stupid?_ If I was going to avoid any bandits, I would have to blend in, too. 

It looked like there was a nice, big market in front of some large stone house. The market had food, small furnishings, trinkets, clothes, tools, everything anyone could want. Well, not everything, but everything practical and necessary. The vendor looked rather welcoming and proper, as well, so I curled my hand around some gold pieces I had in my pockets. I also took note of the weird looks I got sometimes, but I chalked that up to my outfit.

“Hello, what may I do for you today, young lady?” The shop vendor said. He was rather young, around 17, and rather interesting looking, too. His short brown hair was spiky, but definitely not messy, and he was dressed a little differently than the rest of the villagers. He wore a nice maroon vest with some brown belt stretched diagonally across his waist. But it was his eyes that stood out the most. They were an unusual gray, almost white, with a dark ring around the irises. “Miss? Can I help you?” He smiled kindly at me.

“Huh? Oh, sorry. I just—”

“No need to explain. What would you like?” The vendor interrupted.

“Um…” I looked around. “I would like some simple clothes, please.” I said, looking down nervously. “Something like what the majority of the village women here wear. No dress though.”

“Hmm, this is an oddly specific request. I’ve...never had someone ask for clothes like that before.” He said, looking at me suspiciously.

 _Shoot, they’re on to me!_ “No, it’s just that I...need to blend in with the culture is all. Where I come from...we dress differently. I’m getting strange looks, so I was hoping…” What a horrible liar I was.

“No worries. I can hook you up. Now, I’ve got this lovely brown shirt with a selection of pants in theeese colors.” He motioned to the assortment of trousers. “We’ve also got this highly fashionable scarf that clips in front. Only got a dull orange in stock right now, but this color is a trend among village women these days. There’s an optional headdress that you can tie up in the back if you’d like. So, what would you be interested in?” The vendor smiled brightly at me.

“Uh...I’ll take that brown shirt, the black pants, the scarf, and...no headdress please. How much will all that cost?” I tried to hold a normal expression, but I probably looked constipated instead.

“Let’s see...you owe 3 gold for the shirt, 2 gold for the pants, and 8 gold for the scarf, so you owe 13 gold total. Lucky number.” He winked.

I handed him a big gold piece, which was worth 20 gold. “Keep the change.” I blushed, taking my newly purchased items. 

“Have a good day, miss.” He was awfully kind, but I’m positive it was just an act to sell more merchandise.

I hurried to a public outhouse so I could change into my new outfit that would allow me to camouflage perfectly! It was pure genius! But I still couldn’t be sure that this was a fool proof plan. After all, I only just got those clothes. But I figured if I was able to stay out of trouble just long enough, then I could settle down somewhere. I considered the village I was in currently, as it seemed like a nice village and all, but I realized I didn’t even have a way of paying for a house. I only had a grand total of 200 gold, which was definitely enough to pay for about 150 meals, but not nearly enough for a house. The houses here must have cost somewhere around 50,000 gold, so settling would have to wait.

After changing, I neatly packed my old robes into a dull yellow bag that was tightly strapped to my waist. As I walked back outside, I immediately started contemplating ways to get rich quick. Realistically speaking, there were no such plans, so I’d have to play the long game. If I was allowed to, I could just take up a job opportunity somewhere in the village and live under someone else’s roof until I saved up enough for myself. Another genius idea! And looking around, there were viable businesses running everywhere! A mill, a textile production house, and...ooh the barn. That could have been fun. But the man at the market I was just at seemed nice, and it looked like they were in need of another worker, since it was rather large. So, I felt compelled to head back there. Although living with a boy whose name I did not know, especially a beorc in general, sounded like an...idea. With all that the bandits had done...I never knew if I could really trust beorc again. But this beorc seemed ok, and I could easily pass as a normal beorc. Nobody had to know. With a sour face, I returned to the market. _I feel like this is the best opportunity I’ve got for a home._

“Back already? Did you want that headdress? Or…” The boy trailed off.

“I was...sort of hoping for a job opportunity. Are you guys hiring?” My voice tightened.

“Sorry to say that this here’s a family business.” He shook his head. “But I do know of—”

“Bandits!” A village woman shrieked. 

My heart skipped a beat. _No! Not again! Wait, they can’t be after me, can they? Not when I look like this! Maybe this is all a coincidence and these bandits just decided to raid this village. Maybe_ …. I froze up, as I realized I was standing completely out in the open. There was no easy out this time. _Should I hide between those houses? No, I’ll be trapped. Should I pound on someone’s door and hope to be let in? No, that’ll take too long and attract their attention. Should I climb up on the roof? No, I can’t find a way up there. Should I—_

Out of nowhere, a large, rough hand grabbed me tightly from behind. I would have shrieked, but the hand was pressed so hard against my mouth that no sound could have possibly escaped. I panicked. Fear, dread, and anger consumed my body and mind. I struggled and kicked, but whoever had me in their grip was far stronger than me. I began sweating profusely as I pointlessly continued to attempt an escape. _There must be a way out._ Desperately looking around for bystanders, it was soon apparent that not a single villager would try to free me, let alone notice that I was being kidnapped. The boy running the market had also seemed to disappear without a trace in the midst of the chaos.

“Haha! Sargon, boss! You got her!” One generic bandit cheered. 

_Hold on, who the hell is Sargon?_ I didn’t recognize that name. The last group had a leader by the name of Yandel, meaning this was a completely different group of bandits altogether!

“We’re gonna be rich, boys!” His raspy voice made my ears bleed. “Kun Jin will be real pleased.” The man whispered hoarsely into my ear. 

_That...that name again..._

I watched, horrified, as goons burst into houses around the perimeter of the village, and pillaged to their heart’s content. To top off their villainous acts, they lit their torches and ignited the houses they had just robbed. Everything happened so quickly. This Sargon man, this...this mistake of a human was still holding onto me, nearly squeezing the life out of me and forcing me to watch the horrors he had brought upon the village. It was an outrage! 

Suddenly, my feet began to drag along the dust road, toward the outside of the settlement’s limits, toward a deep, dark forest. Resigning to defeat, I stopped my incessant struggling. But despite the limp state of my body, my mind was much more active, racing with grim thoughts. _There’s no escape. I’m never going to be free again. Who are these people? I wish I could fight, maybe then I wouldn’t be in this situation. Oh god I’m going to die I’m going to die I’m going to die. Please god don’t let this happen to me please please please._ I closed my eyes while my bitter tears wet the hand of the bandit.

“Crying, girl? Yer wastin yer energy.” Sargon cackled. “Yer gonna need it for later, so quit yer damn whimpering or I’ll need ta shut you up mah way. And we don't want that now do we?” Sargon hissed.

“Move out!” A new voice ordered from the other side of the village. My eyes shot open, blinking away the salty fluid that filled my eyes, and I caught sight of a group of about 20-30 armor clad individuals, both men and women alike, standing heroically at the opposite end of the scene. A young boerc man with striking blue hair stood out to me the most. He was positioned front and center, with a glorious blue cape flowing out behind him. To his immediate left, there was what appeared to be a slightly younger boy with long, jet black hair tied up with ponytail holders. He wore black robes characteristic of a mage, long, beige pants, and some fashionable sandals. To the blue haired boy’s immediate right was a strong looking woman with glorious red tresses done up in a thick braid. She was clad in brilliant white armor and mounted on a gorgeous white steed. Her right hand wielded an axe with green metal that gleamed in the remaining sunlight as her horse reared up fiercely.

 _There’s no way those are bandits_ , I thought. They looked far too grand to be filthy lowlives. 

“Shoot, not them.” Sargon whispered to himself, tightening his grip on my face. He lifted me off the ground and attempted to run off. 

I continued to stare at the brave group of people taking down bandits left and right, slicing through them like butter. As I was being hauled away, the blue haired boy and a green-armored paladin on a brown horse caught sight of us, and rushed in our direction. 

“Shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot.” Sargon spoke under his breath. He tried picking up his pace, but eventually he realized it was no use, and turned to face the colorful duo behind us. “What business you guys got meddlin ‘round in ours business here, huh? Don't youz got better places to be?” He growled.

The boy with the blue cape scowled intensely at the bandit’s words. “Release the girl, or I’ll make sure to cut you down where you stand.” He spat.

I stared at the blue haired boy with large, tear-filled eyes. It was the first time in all my years on the run that anyone had been so adamant about intervening in a situation like this. And of all people, a beorc.

“Hah. I’z bet you money grabbers want her for yourself, huh? Well, as long’s I got her in front of me, you hain't gonna do nothing.” Worry was evident in Sargon’s voice. 

“For some reason I doubt she’s an effective shield.” The boy’s lips curled into a confident smirk.

“W-Why do you sa—” Ttthhhhhmp. Phmp phmp phmp. The sound of arrows piercing Sargon’s own flesh interrupted him. The pain and shock from the attack caused his grip around me to loosen just enough for me to break away and dash a few feet before being hoisted right back up again. “Alright. If it’s a fight youz want, it’s a fight you’ll get.” Sargon grimaced as he threw me over his bulky shoulder once again. His feet propelled him forward, but his advance was short lived. With one calculated slash from the blue haired boy, the goon was quickly stopped in his tracks. The ground grew closer as I fell with the now dead bandit, but I quickly spun myself around to avoid face-planting in the dust. I ended up landing on my rear instead, which was still quite painful. 

The human who had just saved me stared at me curiously with his sapphire eyes, and the horse that carried the red haired woman galloped in our direction. 

When I raised my eyes to meet the two, I instinctively backed away while continuing to hold eye contact with the boy. 

“Titania. I’ll handle this.” He spoke calmly and authoritatively to the woman.

_Why does her name sound like Titanium?_

“Fair enough. It looks like she can’t keep her eyes off you, anyway.” Her calm, maternal voice rang. She and her horse trotted back to the rest of the people, who, as it turns out, were all staring at me and the blue haired boy. 

He seemed to realize this, so he spun around to everyone. “My men, wait at the other side of the village. I need to take care of this and I’ll be with you in a few minutes.” He commanded.

Half of me was screaming to spring back up onto my feet and run away from this beorc, since he was clearly dangerous and capable of killing anyone in his path. I had no idea who he was, either. But another part of me told me to stay put. After all, he saved me. If he wanted to kill me, he would have done so already. But I think the main reason I chose to stay still was because something felt familiar about the boy. Something was different about him. Was it the way he could command the respect of everyone like a king or lord? Was it his shining sapphire eyes? His cobalt blue tufts of spiky hair? His powerful battle stance? His intrepidity? Perhaps, but there was something else, too. It was something I couldn’t yet put my finger on. 

The sound of heavy boots treading on stone pavement grew closer to me, and before I knew it, the beorc boy was standing above me, casting a shadow over my vulnerable figure crouched on the ground. 

“Are you ok? What was all that about? With the bandits.” His suave but serious nature was apparent as he spoke.

Too distracted by the mystery his presence held, I ignored his question. “Who are you, human?” My voice shook. I intended to utter those words confidently in an effort to match him, but instead, it came out as a tight, suppressed voice. Shy sounding. _What is wrong with me?_

“I’m Ike, leader of the Crimean Army.” He said, holding firm eye contact with me. 

_No wonder he can order people around like that._ At least now I knew for sure that he wasn’t another bandit in disguise. Though there was always the possibility that he was lying, so I couldn’t trust him just yet. 

“May I ask who you are?” 

“I’m Serena.” I paused for a moment, wishing to make my suspicions clear using the only method I knew how: a barrage of questions. “Are you really part of the Crimean army though? Why would you stop here for a mere bandit attack? And why did you humans save me? Wouldn’t you guys have bigger business to attend to?” My eyes became shifty.

“Well, given current circumstances, we thought there were Daein soldiers here from all the commotion. Obviously we thought wrong, but we couldn’t just stand by and watch.” The boy explained.

 _Ok, that seems legit_ , I thought. But what a short attention span that boy had. He didn’t even answer all of my ten thousand questions! “But why save me?”

“Same reason we bothered with the bandits. I couldn’t just stand by and watch an innocent civilian like yourself suffer.” His ocean blue orbs were still fixated on my face. “That is...unless you’re involved with them somehow.”

_Is he seriously thinking I’m a part of some bandit gang or something? I think he IS!_

“Do you mind telling me what they wanted from you? They were talking about money or something. But you just seem like a normal villager, so I want to make sure I’m not missing anything here.” 

_I don’t know if I can trust him with that information though. What if he finds out and then does the same thing the bandits did?_ I tried to tell myself that these people were different, despite my deep-rooted beliefs that beorc were out to harm me and turn on me at a moment’s notice. 'I can’t do it.' I stayed silent. 

Ike seemed to quickly grow tired of my difficult, closed-off nature.“If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine. But I’ll have to be on my way now.” The young man said, mildly irritated. “Stay out of trouble, ok?” He started to turn around.

“Wait.” I said, causing the army’s leader to face me once again. “I’ll tell you.” Looking into his blue eyes, I felt like it was the right thing to do. _Perhaps they can help me._ “I...I happen to have powers that are...different than most. I can make things grow quickly and make the soil rich again. I heal the land. These bandits want to use my powers like I’m some factory so they can sell lots of crops. They want me just for their monetary gain.” Frowning, I felt more tears begin to well up. Great. “That’s all it has been.” I looked down. _I hope I don’t regret this._

A horrified look formed upon Ike’s face. “That’s awful! How long has this been going on for?”

“I don’t know. Many years. But it all started with this.” I gently grasped the thick, black looplet that tightly hugged my leg. “The first group of bandits that captured me put this on, so now I can’t use my offensive powers. They said only a special weapon can break this, but…”

“Do you think I can try?” Ike offered eagerly.

I looked at him, dumbfounded. “I guess, but...it’s unlikely that it’ll break.” 

The boy didn’t seem to care that the odds were stacked against him, and he unsheathed his silver blade anyway. He slashed at the black ring, careful not to cut my ankle in the process, but nothing happened. Not even a scratch. Again. Nothing. Again. Nothing.

“Damn.” Ike muttered.

“See? I’ve had this thing on for so many years already, it’s probably not coming off any time soon.” I sighed, but then my face lit up. _This is my way out._ “Do you think I could...join your cause?” It may have been rash of me to suggest, but I had a good feeling about them. An army would certainly be able to offer me some form of protection, and I could easily make money there if I were to take a paid position. Plus, with all the weapons they probably had and all traveling they would be doing, my odds of finding the special weapon would skyrocket! Genius once again! 

Ike glanced at me in slight surprise. “Well, if what you say is true and this isn't just some elaborate ploy to spy on us...I suppose you could. But I’d like you to prove to me that you possess these powers before I let you join.” 

It looked like we already had something in common. We didn’t trust each other in the slightest. How intriguing. “Uh…there!” I pointed to a dead patch of grass and excitedly sprang to my feet, leading Ike over to it. Unfortunately I wasn’t sure how strong my powers were, since it had been quite a while since I last used them, and the bandits had greatly depleted my inner strength and overall health. Demonstrating would be a crapshoot, but I had no other choice. 

I knew that a part of Ike truly believed me, so I felt determined to try with whatever energy I had left. Kneeling down and gently laying my palm on the dead and dry patch of grass, I tried to channel my energy into the clearly sick soil, but for what seemed like eons, nothing happened. I began to worry that the boy would think that I was a fraud and untrustworthy, that I had told him some phony bologna bullcrap. But then, the faded yellow color of the grass began to brighten and brighten until it was a healthy green. Its dry, straw like texture was restored to a new, smooth feeling as the patch righted itself. Finally, the once crumbly dust underneath darkened and moistened to a fertile state. I looked back up at Ike, who appeared flabbergasted.  
“So it’s true. Welcome aboard, Serena.” Was all he managed to say a short while after that. He helped me to my feet and led me through the town, back toward his troops who were more than ready for departure.


	4. Freedom

Finally, we made it back to the other fighters, but my new commander wasn’t finished with me just yet. It was honestly somewhat bothersome. Me being the way I was, I needed enough time to myself so I could process everything that just happened. But by the looks of the crowd, I doubted I would truly be alone anytime soon.

“That anklet keeps you from fighting, right?” General Ike asked, briefly glancing down at the glowing metal. 

I nodded shamefully.

The general sighed, looking disappointed by my response. “Alright, I’ll have you stay behind during battles until we can break it off.”

 _Wait, hold on, I never agreed to fight!_ I thought, panicking. My last battle...didn’t exactly go too well to say the least. “Maybe I should do something else other than fighting. Perhaps...supply work?” I suggested impulsively, hoping to avoid the possibility of risking my life again.

General Ike shook his head. “We don’t need any more help with that. I’d rather you just focus on what you can do best.” 

_Damn._ “But...the anklet.” I reminded him, lightly clutching my long, dark brown locks between my fingers. 

“I know. We’ll get rid of it soon enough,” he said, as if accomplishing this was a guarantee. 

“...And if we don’t?” 

“We will,” General Ike reassured me, looking off to the side as if deep in thought. “We have a fair number of unique weapons with us, so would you mind having some of my men try before we get going?” He turned to me.

After a bit of thought, I realized that even if I had to fight in major battles again, freedom would be well worth that price. After all, that was the main reason I joined. “I could use all the help I can get,” I said with a slight smile. “But uh...do you think you could keep my abilities a secret? I really don’t want too many people finding out yet.”

General Ike looked confused, but he didn’t push the issue. “Fine. Your secret is safe with me.”

My eyes sparkled at his words. “Thank you, sir.” 

“Wait here,” he said quickly, looking into the crowd.

He went off to converse with a couple of green haired people, one woman and one man. After a few painful minutes of waiting, he brought them forth toward me. By then, I was quivering nervously at the mere thought of strangers gathering around.

“Serena, this is Stefan.” General Ike motioned to the grassy haired male to his right. “He wields a sword called Vague Katti. It’s a rare weapon, so...maybe it’ll break the bracelet.” 

“Hello, Serena,” Stefan nodded simply. Without further talk, he slashed his Vague Katti down on the thick, black ring, but once again, not a scratch on it. And without another word, he left.

“Maybe this will work then,” General Ike said, looking back at me. “This is Princess Elincia of Crimea. She wields the holy blade Amiti.” 

The elegant green haired woman by his side smiled kindly at me, but I just stood there awkwardly and averted my gaze.

 _Ok_ , I thought. _First the leader of the Crimean Army, and now the princess of Crimea?_ Part of me started to think that this was some weird dream, but as I witnessed the royal sword fall upon my anklet and fail to break it, I was completely sure I was still living in my unfortunate reality.

“Milord Ike. What is that made of?”

“I’m...not sure,” General Ike replied. He was definitely thinking of something, but he was hesitating to say it. “Let's depart for now and we’ll worry about it once we set up camp. We need to keep moving as much as possible.” The volume of his voice suddenly raised as he turned to address everyone else. “Alright! We’ll be continuing our journey to Delbray Castle shortly. Everyone, make your final preparations and we’ll head across the river just west of here. It won’t take much longer, so just bear with me.” He hushed his tone once more. “Mix yourself in with everyone and stay away from the edges. Introduce yourself to people while you’re at it. I’ll be at the front if you need me.” With that, he power-walked ahead, leaving me alone to nudge my way into the mass of fighters. 

Many of these fighters were beorc men wearing identical suits of white Crimean armor, but there were some obvious outliers that stood out to me. Like, based on the stories I heard about racial segregation in Tellius, I thought it would be an exclusively beorc army, but I was surprised to see that there were laguz warriors within the bunch, too. Instinctively, I positioned myself next to the nearest one I could find. It happened to be a young beast laguz man with light blue spiky hair and pointy ears held up by a thick orange headband, and luckily, he didn’t seem to mind my presence. 

But as we continued to march onward, I occasionally felt the laguz man’s eyes on me. It was a bit unnerving because I couldn’t tell if he was giving me a ‘what the heck is that thing’ kind of look, or if he was genuinely interested in talking to me. Mustering up all the courage I could find at the time, I turned my head to meet the cat man’s gaze. He appeared surprised that I caught him in the act, but then his lips curled into a child-like and slightly devious smile.

“Oh hi, you're that village girl that Ike was talking to earlier. Can't get your eyes off him, huh?” 

_Shoot, that’s exactly what that Titanium woman said._

He noticed my curiosity, but I think he had the wrong idea. “Um...yeah.” I looked away, awkwardly bringing my hand up to the back of my neck.

“Well hello, new recruit!” He greeted me excitedly. “What brings you here? Are you a merchant or a supplier?” His multicolored orbs flickered at me. He frowned for a moment, but his cheery smile soon returned.

“No, um...I’m a mage. These...aren't my normal clothes.” I smiled forcefully, desperately hoping that the beast tribe man wouldn’t probe any further. 

“Ah. Oh, I forgot. The name’s Ranulf. Pleasure to meet you…” He stuck out his hand, encouraging a response.

“I’m Serena,” I said. When I took his hand, he looked at me strangely again for no apparent reason, but I had a sneaking suspicion it was because he could sense my heritage. 

Because of that mildly uncomfortable introduction, I opted to stay silent for much of the journey. I kinda felt bad because it seemed like Ranulf still wanted to talk, but my naturally cold demeanor discouraged further conversation. I figured once I set up along with the others, I would finally be able to be a hermit in peace. Except there was one problem: I was empty handed, so I had no clue what I was going to be setting up in the first place. Everyone else was supplied with heavy looking baggage including a folded up tent, a sleeping bag, and other miscellaneous things I couldn't identify. _Whatever. I’ll worry about it later._

After traversing through some open plains lined by these great big mountains to the south, our quick pace began to slow to a halt as we approached a rather daunting river. It was wide, it was rapid, and it was way bigger than the river I had crossed the day before. I couldn't even see the bottom of that thing! 

Once we were all standing at attention within an earshot of the general, he faced us and prepared to give us orders. “Before we proceed, I’d like to mention that this river is safe to cross, despite any of your concerns.” He said as if he could read my mind. “It’s only about 4 feet deep, but it has a rocky bottom, so just make sure you keep a steady footing.” With that, our march continued, and the people in the front started descending into the rushing water, all the while trying to keep their baggage dry. 

I had it relatively easy compared to everyone else since I only had to carry a couple of books and some clothes. But the loud sound of the water became more and more overwhelming as we neared it, and when it came time for me to hop in, I chickened out. I couldn’t get past how dangerous it looked. _What if the current sweeps me off my feet and I drown? I can’t swim in a current like that!_

Looking beside me, I noticed the cat laguz from earlier hadn’t proceeded yet either. He kept glancing at me with slight concern and then back at the river until most of the soldiers who were behind us before had already entered it. 

“Serena? We should go in now.” He sounded tense. 

“But...I’m really scared, I can only doggy paddle.” My voice was almost too quiet to hear over the roaring rapids. And looking back at it, my words made me sound even more pathetic.

“I know, but we need to go. We don't want to hold up the whole army and have them get mad at us,” Ranulf said, stepping into the foamy sunset stream. 

He had a good point. It'd be worse to hold everyone up because of my own hesitation than if I just slipped during the process of crossing. I didn't want all of them to hate me from the get go either. So, I acquiescently slid into the river, feeling the uncomfortably cold water slowly climb up my clothes and stick to my skin. The current wasn't as strong as I anticipated, and with the laguz boy keeping watch, I felt much safer. That said, it still worried me considerably whenever I crossed a particularly loose patch of stones. Thankfully, I ended up making it across safely. 

It became apparent that we arrived at the campsite once the troops came to a halt upon more orders from the general. It was now evening, and the brilliant setting sun cast a radiant orange light upon everything, so the wide stretch of land dotted with trees and the gleaming river behind us looked especially nice. 

People began spreading out and pitching their olive green tents on the slightly sun-dried grass, reminding me of how I was still without supplies. I turned to find Ranulf, hoping he would have advice, but it seemed he had disappeared somewhere, so I was left standing alone and confused. That is, until the general approached me out of nowhere, but only after I had already been panicking for a few minutes. 

“You look worried.” He furrowed his blue, normally angry brows that made his face somewhat intimidating.

“Yeah I don't have a tent or anything...” I trailed off, looking down shyly.

“Oh. You didn't need to worry about it. I was planning to give you all that stuff after the trip. I'll be right back.” 

He left to talk to what looked like a group of merchants, soon returning with my supplies and a rather large sheathed weapon. “Before you set anything up though, I need to try something.” His voice sounded calm as he gripped the enormous weapon he held, revealing its shiny, golden color under its fancy looking sheath. 

“Whoa,” I muttered under my breath. 

“This is the blade Ragnell. I don't know that much about it, but it’s one of a kind and it’s the last thing we have that might break that bracelet of yours,” the blue haired general said, pointing at the anklet with the tip of his blade. 

I observed him and the sword carefully as he brought it down with great force onto the bangle, and to my surprise, there was a snapping sound, and a crack appeared in the dark material. Its ceaseless, purple glow finally dissipated, causing both of us to look up at each other simultaneously and then back down at the cracked looplet, stupefied. General Ike struck it once more and I’ll never forget the soft clang of freedom the damned thing made as it hit the ground, finally falling off my ankle. 

_Well, that happened faster than I expected._

"Told you we would get rid of it." General Ike said confidently, sheathing his menacing weapon.

Gawking at the shattered anklet, I felt greatly indebted to my superior, but there was literally nothing I could do in return that would possibly compare to what he did for me. “Th-thank you for freeing me,” was all I could think to say.

“Of course. So are you able to attack now?” He responded, seeming rather impatient.

“I'm not sure,” I spoke quietly, darting my eyes every which way except in his general direction. “Let me first check my restoration ability.” Kneeling down, I tried to restore moisture and health to the terrain below us, but I found it quite difficult to make anything happen. In fact, I sat and tried for around 5 minutes, only managing to induce a headache while General Ike watched worriedly. 

Something was blocking my powers other than the anklet. “I don't understand,” I said sorrowfully. “I don't understand why nothing's happening anymore. I was just able to do it earlier today.” 

“Hey, it’s fine. Maybe all you need to do is rest,” the general spoke with care. “We still have some time before the next battle, so keep working on your skills. If you haven’t improved by then, I’ll just ask you to stay behind.”

“But...what if I can't ever regain my abilities?” My eyes began to water as I imagined the worst.

“Look,” General Ike sighed. I don’t know why, but I expected him to fire me right then and there. But instead, he took a completely different path. “If you think you can't, you never will. Just use whatever tools for success you’ve been given, and you’ll pull through. Now do you need help setting up?” 

Instead of responding, I just stayed crouched on the ground, staring at the blue haired human like an idiot. I had never set up a tent before, so I was lucky my commander took my silence as a ‘yes’ and was kind enough to tell me how to do it. 

It looked surprisingly easy, but of course _I_ would somehow mess the process up and have it collapse not once, but _twice_ , and have to hide my red, embarrassed face from the general while he took over. 

“There. Now if it collapses for a third time, hopefully you’ll know what to do.” He said. With that, the young general strolled away into the sunset—I mean, toward his tent which happened to also be in front of the setting sun—and disappeared inside. 

_I guess this is my new life for the foreseeable future_ , I thought as I climbed inside my newly placed tent. Once inside, I unpacked my folded up robes from my yellow bag, changing back into them before resting my weary head on my bedroll. _Let’s see where it takes me_.


	5. Problems

About a week passed since I joined the Crimean Army, and I was more determined than ever to recover my lost powers. So for that entire week, I spent every waking moment practicing my magic. Every day, I would purposely stay hidden, far far away from the general and from the cat laguz I had met earlier. I just couldn’t afford any distractions or meaningless conversations getting in the way. Now, you would think after all that effort and social isolation, I would have at least made _some_ improvement, but no. In fact, it felt like I was making _reverse_ progress somehow. 

There was a battle coming up in another week, but at that rate, there was no way I’d be able to participate. And the thought of having to break the news to the general was exceptionally cringeworthy, making it almost impossible for me to stop imagining all the horrible things he would probably say to me. Lazy. Freeloader. Pathetic. 

“Damn,” I muttered, curling my hand into a fist around some dried soil. _I don’t think I can bear to talk to anyone like this, let alone the general. I’m so feeble._ But I started to realize that maybe this wasn’t something I could do on my own. In fact, the only reason I even knew magic in the first place was because someone else taught me. So, I figured I just needed a little push in the right direction and I’d be good to go.

The problem was, I felt like I had nobody to turn to. Perhaps part of that was my own fault, but that meant it was up to me to fix it if I ever wanted to see improvement. So, that evening, I developed a last resort plan. Out of the two people I met, none were mages. But if there was anybody who would give me the best chance of success, it was, unfortunately, the general. The last person I wanted to talk to. But he was the only person that knew of my powers, and if I told him well before the battle, I’d still have an opportunity to recover my lost skills before then, possibly sparing me more embarrassment later.

Knowing I had no other choice, I reluctantly left the confines of my tent and did my best to maintain a confident facade. I managed to find the location of the general with the help of a random stranger, but when I was finally outside his tent, all sense of courage immediately vanished. “General?” My voice shook.

I got no answer, so I repeated myself in a slightly louder tone, but still no response. _This is awkward_.

“Serena?” A voice said moments later.

I whipped around to see the exact person I was looking for. 

“What brings you here?” He asked with a stern expression, making me feel as if I had disturbed him somehow.

_Oh no, he’s mad._ “Um, so I’ve been having issues,” I gulped. _Maybe this was a bad idea._

“With...?” 

And during the most crucial moment of my plan, I just didn’t have the guts to spit it out. Just by looking at his stone cold expression, the fear of some kind of undesirable consequence became too overwhelming. “Um...nothing,” I said shyly. _Stupid stupid stupid._ My face flushed and I made a daring escape back to my tent, leaving no room for the general to object. _I can’t do it._

Disappearing inside my cloth hideaway, I intended to stay there for the rest of the evening, but General Ike’s voice disturbed my momentary feeling of safety.

“Serena, cowering isn’t going to solve your problems,” the boy said, irritated. “Come out and tell me what’s wrong.” He ordered.

I wiped away the single tear that had leaked from my bleary eyes before poking my head outside. _Why did he even bother following me..._

“What’s the matter with you?” He asked pointedly.

“My magic hasn’t been working.” I blurted, looking away in shame. _There, I said it._

There was an unnerving silence after I revealed my shortcomings. But when I looked back up at my commander, I saw that he wasn’t mad like I thought he would be. In fact, I couldn’t even tell _what_ he was feeling, which was probably even scarier than outright anger would have been. 

“Oh.” He said calmly, seemingly pondering something. “Come with me.” The boy motioned for me to follow his lead without even telling me where we were going.

Despite my apprehension, I crawled out of my tent and got to my feet. Each second trailing behind the general felt like an eternity, but in reality, it only took us a couple minutes to reach our destination: the black haired mage I saw back in the village. 

Now that I was able to get a better look at him, he definitely seemed unique. His disdainful looking eyes were as red as the blood moon, and so was the strange symbol on his forehead. It almost reminded me of the mark I bore on my arm, but it wasn’t quite the same. 

“Hey, Soren. Could you do me a favor?”

“Why is this girl here?” The mage huffed.

_Jeez, what did I ever do to him?_

“Long story short, she’s struggling to access her magic.” The general said. “You’re my best mage, it would mean a lot if you could help her out.” 

Soren’s angry eyes stared me down, as if he was some sort of god judging my lowly form. “I won’t do it.” He said, apparently deeming me unworthy. 

This seemed to surprise the blue haired boy. “What? Why not?” 

“She shouldn’t be here if she can’t access her magic at this point, whatever that means.” The mage hissed. “We’re too far along. It would be a waste of energy to train someone all the way up to the skill level we require.” 

How infuriating and embarrassing! _If only he knew my background_ , I thought, feeling my normally cold and fair cheeks redden and heat up.

“Wait, Soren. It’s not that she lacks skill. I think it’s just...magic block,” the blue headed leader persisted. 

“Magic block...that sort of thing only happens to beginners,” Soren scoffed. “Sorry, Ike.” He hurried away, passing right between me and the commander without another word. 

Too ashamed to do or say anything, I kept my eyes glued to the ground and shoved my dainty hands into my spacious pockets.

“I’m sorry about him,” General Ike said, trying to comfort me. 

But it didn’t help. I just shook my head without saying anything in return. _I knew this was a bad idea._

“We’ll just have to figure something out ourselves, I guess.”

“Yeah, I guess.” 

“Hmm,” the boy said, crossing his arms in thought. “What has your training routine looked like this past week?” 

After gathering my composure, I reluctantly told him my genius strategy, and much to my surprise, I was met with a slightly concerned expression. I didn’t understand why since nothing seemed wrong with it to me.

“That explains why I haven’t been able to find you…” The general muttered. “Take it from me, it always helps to have a friend. So instead of holing yourself up today, try to meet people, like other mages, and see if that makes a difference.” 

“But—”

“That’s an order,” he commanded. 

I stared at him blankly and sighed. “Ok.”

“There are lots of nice people here. They’re not all like Soren, I promise.” He smiled at me reassuringly. “And don’t be afraid to approach me either.”

“Thank you, General.” I smiled stiffly, taking a small bow. 

As the boy watched my gesture, a displeased look appeared on his face, but it was quick to return to a small smile. “I’ll check back with you soon,” he said.

Suddenly, a black haired, fair skinned woman dressed in pink robes and a hood came prancing in toward us. “Ohhh, there you are, Ikey-poo. I’ve been looking for you!” She sang. In her hand, there was a nicely wrapped parcel. It looked like a gift.

_What? Ikey-poo? Who the hell is she?_ I thought, feeling unexpectedly disgusted by the girl.

And to make that feeling worse, the normally emotionless blue haired general _blushed_. “Right. You got what I asked for, Aimee?”

The girl giggled. “Of course, handsome.” She handed the parcel over, making a point to have her hand linger in his for just a bit longer than necessary.

General Ike looked at the girl, seemingly bewildered. “Uh, ok. Thank you.” 

“Oh but wait, there’s more!” Aimee grinned. “I have more **merchandise** to show you!”

The general turned to me and frowned. “I’m sorry, I have to take this. Remember what we talked about.” He said before walking away somewhere with the annoying girl.

_What the hell did I just watch?_ I thought as I skulked away, trying to forget the scene. I had better things to worry about, anyway. Like making friends, for example. After all my years spent in isolation, I pretty much forgot everything that related to socialization. So when I started wandering the camp, I found it almost impossible to muster up enough courage to greet passersby. _I didn’t know it would be this hard to find company…_

“Hey, pretty lady. You’re the new girl right? You lost?” A deep, manly voice said to me out of nowhere. 

When I turned to face him, I saw that he was a burly beorc man dressed in blue armor, and his blonde hair was nicely slicked up. Not gonna lie, I nearly bolted out of fear. I mean, I knew he was a fellow Crimean soldier, but all I saw was a fancy looking bandit disguised in armor. Not that he actually was a bandit, but he was definitely built like one. “Um...no…” I mumbled. 

Instead of leaving me alone like a normal human, the man smiled charmingly, showing off his bright white teeth. “Well then, what’s a cute girl like yourself doing walking around alone on such a fine evening?” He said, gazing at me seductively.

Not knowing how to respond to such boldness, I clutched my arm and looked down timidly. _This isn’t exactly the company I wanted._

“Teehee, you’re a shy one, huh. What’s your name, cutie?” The man continued, maintaining his charming grin.

“...Belinda…” 

In response, he introduced himself as Gatrie. And of course, as literally anybody would have guessed, he was also quick to invite me on a dinner date of sorts. 

He was so...scary looking and I really didn’t want to go, but the general told me I had to make friends, so I obliged. And I have to tell you, it was a big mistake. He kept making flirtatious remarks almost the entire time, even though I barely said anything in return. It was like he was talking to a wall, and I had to play the role of that poor, poor wall.

So that dragged on for quite a while, and unfortunately for me, there was no end in sight. But as if my prayers for freedom had been answered, a familiar face decided to join our one-sided conversation.

“Ah, Ranulf!” Gatrie exclaimed. “Have you met Belinda yet?” 

The cat man held back a snicker as he looked from me to Gatrie, and then back to me, noticing my very obvious grimace. “Oh yeah.” He said. “ _Belinda_ and I met the very first day she got here!”

“Oh for real?” The blonde knight said. “Dang, you beat me to her!” 

“Nevermind that, she has an appointment to get to. I just came to fetch her.” Ranulf said.

_What? No I don’t!_

Upon hearing the news, disappointment briefly swept over Gatrie’s cheery face. “Aww man. Well, I won’t get in the way, cutie.” He smiled at me again. “We should do this again sometime, heehee.” 

_Please no._ “Um...sure…” 

“Sweet!” The knight exclaimed. “Later, lovely.” 

After Gatrie was a safe distance away, I looked up at Ranulf with a confused, but relieved expression.

“You can thank me later, Ms. Belinda, Master of Fake Names.” He said, chuckling lightly. 

“Wait, what appointment though?” I asked anxiously, ignoring his silly remark.

“Oh, I wasn’t being serious.” He laughed. “You just looked reeaallly uncomfortable there.” The cat boy said, helping me to my feet. 

We started walking, but it didn’t seem like either of us had a particular destination in mind, so it turned out to be a relaxing stroll. And although I felt more at ease, I still found it difficult to start any kind of conversation with the cat boy. But luckily for me, the uncomfortable silence was very brief. Ranulf’s bubbly nature was able to come through just enough to overcome my repulsive forces.

“I just remembered, I haven’t seen you in a week! Time really does fly, doesn’t it?” Ranulf said. 

“Sure does.” I laughed coyly.

“So, how has your experience been so far?” He asked.

I sighed heavily, finally managing to speak more than just a couple of words. “Well, I guess I’ve been having a lot of problems.”

“What?? But you just got here!” The cat said, seemingly concerned. “What happened?”

“Well…” I hesitated. “I don’t really have any friends.”

As soon as I said that, Ranulf’s light blue tail dropped slightly. “Oh my. Well, why don’t we hang out more then?” He smiled brightly at me. “It’ll be fun. I can help you meet other people too!”

My eyes sparkling at his words, I eagerly accepted his offer. And as we talked more, I found myself feeling more and more at home. He very much reminded me of some of the laguz friends I had back on the island, but somehow, Ranulf was already friendlier than my old pals ever were.

“Oh hey, I forgot to mention.” He said. “If you’re looking for more great friends like myself, you should try talking to Ike more.”

I furrowed my brow in response to his absurd suggestion. “But he’s our general…” I pointed out.

The cat laughed. “So? I’m a pretty good buddy of his, anyway. General or no general. He has a good heart, and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind talking to you.”

Thinking about it for a moment, I didn’t feel like befriending him would end well, no matter how kind or interesting he was to me. I just couldn’t get past the clear difference in ranking and authority. But I wasn’t about to tell Ranulf that. Instead, I came up with some dumb excuse. “But he’s so angry all the time. And scary.”

Ranulf laughed again. “It may look that way, but he isn’t. Trust me. I’ll help you.”

“Uh...you don’t have to.”

“C’mon, Belinda. I mean, Serena. The more friends the merrier, is what I always say.” He smiled. “And if you’re gonna be friends with me, you might as well be friends with _my_ friends too.” 

After a few more attempts to resist, it was clear that it was a waste of energy. So I eventually pretended to give in just so he would shut up about it. “Do whatever you want, Ranulf. Just please don’t embarrass me in the process.” I said with a sigh.

Upon the sun’s descent below the horizon, I bade Ranulf farewell and headed off to my quarters. I was curious to find out whether social interaction had actually helped improve my problems, so I knelt down behind my tent and gently touched the dried terrain beneath me. I focused all the energy I could find within me, sealed my eyelids, and concentrated on nothing other than healing the ground.

When I finally opened my eyes and peered down...the soil was still as dry as ever, and nothing had happened. Great.

_Back to the drawing board I guess._


	6. The Only Antidote

Since the day I confronted the general, I spent an extra week trying to improve my magic. This time, however, I wasn’t as much of a hermit and actually hung out with Ranulf during some of our journeys, and even during the evenings that succeeded them. I thought that this adapted routine in addition to the extra week would finally allow me to recover, but of course, I couldn’t have been more wrong. After trying almost everything under the sun, it seemed that nothing was going to work. As far as I knew, I just didn’t have any magic left in me, if that was even a thing that happened.

The evening before the upcoming battle, I anxiously sat by my tent and eyed the ground, feeling extremely dissatisfied with myself. While there was still light, I tried fruitlessly to restore the grass below me with all the internal energy I could find, like I did every single day before, but only a few blades of grass turned green. Sure, a few blades were better than none, but at that rate, I would never be capable of unleashing battle-worthy attacks using Jörð. That required far more magic than healing a couple blades of grass. 

By the end of that day, I shamefully updated the general on my severe lack of progress once he checked in with me like he promised he would. When I told him, I could literally feel the disappointment dripping out of him as he ordered me to stay behind from the battle. In turn, I felt even more disappointed in myself than I ever thought possible. It was one thing to fail at achieving my own goals, but letting others down in the process was another thing entirely. It wasn’t like me to do that. 

The next morning, I was roused by loud, frantic commands coming from at least three different voices, each ordering units to move further up north and to move quickly, or something along the lines of that. It was quite startling, but then I realized that it was just my comrades getting ready for the battle that I...was too weak to attend. Right. The sudden remembrance caused little waves of shame to bubble up into my conscious thoughts, but I was far too tired to give those feelings much attention. I mean, it was barely daybreak, meaning I probably got about…3 hours of sleep? So my eyes pleaded for me to drift off into a slumber once more, but the voices outside were the only thing preventing me from nodding off. Once the clamor died down after a few minutes, my eyes were finally able to slip shut, only reopening when the bright light from the late-morning sun illuminated the inside of my cloth fortress.

I only temporarily forgot about the battle upon opening my eyes, but as soon as my mind was awake enough, the general’s disappointment was the only thing I could think about. _I used to be so good at magic, what the hell is wrong with me?_ I thought as I slowly pulled myself out of my sleeping bag and pushed the tent flaps aside. Poking my head outside, I saw a bunch of people independently training with their weapons, and some were even sparring with each other. Another painful reminder that I still couldn’t fight.

In an effort to hide from it all, I crawled behind my tent and sat there, staring blankly at the dried up grass beneath me. I almost felt too disheartened to continue trying my powers, but that was sure to earn me the title of a failure (if I hadn’t earned it already), so quitting was never going to be an option for me. But as I expected, nothing had changed since the day before. 

_No. This is not ok. I can't just sit here and allow myself to keep failing like this. I have to try. I have to really try this time._ Tightening my focus, I stared at the ground intensely, clenched my jaw, and let blood rush to my face. _Magic comes from within, magic comes from within,_ I repeated the words of my fellow Masters over and over in my head, and a few blades of grass righted themselves, but no more. _Come on, why? Why can't I do better than...whatever this garbage is?_ Out of frustration, I curled my hands into tight fists around the newly healed blades of grass, bending their previously straight forms. 

There had to be something I was missing. Perhaps, I thought, trying in a location away from my tent would help. _Maybe my tent is just cursed._ Blindly hoping that this was the key to success, I moved myself to the fringe of camp where there was a 40ft tall cliff that connected to a wide field below. Standing atop the grassy shelf, I admired the partly cloudy skies that scattered the fields with sluggishly crawling amorphous shadows, and the grasses that waved in the gentle breeze. It was certainly calming, but probably not calming enough to have a noticeable effect on my magic. 

Wanting to test this theory, I crouched down and rested on my knees, clutching the soft turf with my long fingers. Lifting some of the powdery topsoil, I rubbed my hands together and covered them in the desiccated substance. As I watched little grains of dirt crumble off my drying skin, it occurred to me that maybe I couldn’t do anything because I wasn't healthy myself. I hadn't been eating or drinking properly for a while, and often skipped meals because of how frustrated I had been, so I was more than likely malnourished and dehydrated. _That has to be it._ I returned to the middle of camp in search of a proper meal, chugging some water and devouring a ration containing meat and fruits. It didn't fill me up completely, but it should have been enough.

Eager to find out, I dashed back to the top of the cliff, and once again, I was without success. Just a few blades of grass rose up, and the soil darkened only slightly. I tried a third time on a different patch. I tried a fourth time. A fifth time. A sixth time. Nothing. _What could I possibly be missing?_

I gazed at the blue skies as if it held the answers, lost in thought for who knows how long, until everything began to darken. Suddenly, the sound of loud footsteps and chatter in the distance snapped me out of my trance. Twisting my body around to face the camp, I saw that familiar blue haired boy come marching in with his troops following closely behind him, and I took that as my cue to disappear into my tent. Swiftly and silently, I descended from the cliff, snuck through the crowds of people, and crawled into my hiding place. I sealed the flaps, but someone started talking, so I leaned toward the outside so I could hear the news.

“The battle, though it was a difficult one, ended in victory!” People outside erupted in cheers, but it was short lived. “Hold. We still have a few obstacles that will delay our court at Melior.” The crowd silenced. 

Awaiting further discussion, I brought my ear even closer to the opening of my tent. 

“Our next objective is to take down Fort Pinell, so we can’t drop our guard just yet. We must remember that Daein will do everything in their power to defeat us, even resorting to the most heinous strategies known to man.” There was a pause. “We have word that they are using some kind of poison to gain the advantage. With it, they’ve been able to take control of innocent laguz warriors. They’ve corrupted their bodies and minds into fighting for them. And if they can do that, who knows what else they’re capable of.”

In response to the sickening news, the people outside chattered nervously. 

“With that in mind, we must continue onwards with all we’ve got. So once there is light in the sky, we begin our journey to Fort Pinell. With the amount of planning we need to do and the alternate route we’re going to take, it should take no longer than a week. I hope all of you are ready for what's to come.” 

After the brief deliverance, everyone started to speak all at once and it was a grand mess of fear, concern, worry, anger, and general discontent. It was quite an overwhelming speech, but it was even more confusing for me because I had no context. All I knew was: Crimea good, Daein bad. And now this weird and evil drug thing.

Suddenly, I heard General Ike’s voice right outside my tent, causing me to leap back in surprise with a small yelp.

“Serena, are you in there? I’d like to speak to you if you have a minute.” 

_This can’t be good._ Reluctantly, I unzipped my tent flaps and meekly stepped outside, turning my head away. I couldn’t bear to face him after yesterday.

But, much to my surprise, he wasn’t disappointed anymore. Rather, he sounded more concerned than anything. “Hey, I just wanted to check in with you. Are you doing ok?” He tilted his head slightly, looking at me with a worried expression.

“Thanks for asking, but no. I don’t think I am,” I frowned.

“I’m sorry to hear that. But an idea just hit me while I was out at battle, I think it might help you.” A small smile tugged at his lips. “Follow me.”

“Um...yes sir,” I complied nervously.

The young man turned around with a swish of his cape and led me around camp until we reached a tent which, of course, looked like all the others. “Reyson, are you in there? I need a quick favor, if you don't mind,” he spoke cautiously, as if whoever was in that tent was some kind of monster. 

I half expected to hear unintelligible growls coming from inside, but quite the opposite happened. 

“Yes I’m here, please come in.” A mellow, gentle male voice rang like beautiful bells through the military green fabric of his abode.

We walked inside, and my eyes widened at the sight of the absolutely stunning man. He had a pale, perfectly constructed face and extremely long, flowing blonde hair that sparkled like strands of gold. An aura of purity and kindness, but also a hint of resentment, radiated off of his glowing flesh. He wore floor length white robes, and the most noticeable feature of his was his grand wings extending from his back, covered in smooth, excellently groomed, white feathers that shimmered even in low light. He was astonishingly beautiful. A heron laguz.

Looking at him, memories of my mother came flooding back to me, bringing with them the memories of her friend, the young bluenette woman. The image of her calm, sea blue eyes was suddenly at the forefront of my mind. Her and my mother standing side by side.

“Reyson, this is Serena,” the cobalt haired general said. “She’s one of our newest recruits, and she’s been having trouble with her magic lately. I know she's not a laguz, and this may sound crazy, but she could be affected by that drug we recently heard about.” 

To be quite honest, his theory wasn't as crazy as he thought, because although I wasn't laguz, I still had laguz blood running through my veins. It was very possible that such a drug could affect me in some way because of that. “Um...what exactly does this drug do?” I asked meekly.

“From the reports, it greatly enhances the power of laguz and keeps them transformed, but it also greatly shortens their lifespan and reduces their overall strength after use stops,” the general said. “They also lose self control if I'm not mistaken. But we don't know its effects on beorc. If it’s anything like what happens to laguz, there’s a possibility you may have some in you.”

After General Ike’s brief explanation, the angelic heron man strode forward until he was about 6 inches away from me. He rested his dainty palm on the top of my head and stared into my cautious eyes. “I do feel corruption in this girl….” Reyson frowned. 

I wasn’t sure if he was referring to the fact that I was branded or if there was actual poison in me, but I would certainly find out.

“Would you like me to rid her of it?” He dropped his hand and glanced at the young leader.

“Of course.” 

With that, Reyson took a step back from me and sealed his eyes. His voice, as melodious as a heavenly choir, broke out into the ancient song I heard mother and her friend sing long ago. The Galdr of Rebirth. 

It was so pure and so soothing, I swear I almost cried as I collapsed at Reyson’s feet.

When I opened my eyes, I was somehow back in my own tent. My body felt lighter and renewed, almost like all of my burdens had vanished. Nothing hurt, nothing was tight, not even a negative though dared to enter my mind. It was oddly silent outside though, which was slightly alarming, but somehow I remained completely calm. Suspiciously, I poked my head out of my tent into the black of night, and my heart jumped a little at the sight of an unidentified, lean man standing right in front of the exit. But then I saw a tail curling and swishing back and forth, and I immediately knew who it was. “Ranulf?” 

He stopped swishing his tail, bringing it up to his hand as he turned to face me. “Ah, you're awake,” the cat beamed. “I heard what happened. How are ya?” 

“I...I feel great. But I think I need more rest,” I smiled slightly.

Ranulf laughed. “Don't wanna talk, eh? I see how it is.” He crossed his arms, appearing angry.

“Wait no, I’m just tired, that's all!” The last thing I wanted was for that laguz to hate me. 

“Cmon, it's a joke, Serena. I'm a cat. A cat who sleeps. A lot,” the sky blue haired laguz chuckled. “But before I leave you to that, I have to report some things back to Ike.”

“Like?”

“No no, I said Ike,” Ranulf said. “You sure you feel great?”

I glared at the cat man, unamused. “Like as in, what things do you have to report?”

“Ohhhhh,” Ranulf said with a small smile, but his face quickly turned serious. “Alright. First, not to alarm you or anything, but the fact that the Galdr worked so well on you means that you were more than likely poisoned,” he said.

“Wait really?” 

“Yes. We talked about it for a little bit, and we don’t think there’s any other explanation,” he said gravely. “Ike was there, and he didn’t faint like you did.”

He had a point. Mother would sing it all the time, but nothing like this had ever happened. “But how is it possible that I’ve already been exposed to a drug that we only just heard about?”

“That’s one of the things I needed to ask,” Ranulf said. “Do you recall being exposed to anything strange recently? Think hard on this one.”

Then it occurred to me. General Ike said that the drug could cause diminished strength after use stopped, and that’s precisely what happened when my anklet came off. But if the anklet was actually infused with this mysterious drug, then it was by no means new. “Actually yes I do,” I said blankly.

“Ok, tell me what you know,” he said.

“Tell the general that it was the anklet.”

Ranulf looked confused. “The what now?” He tilted his head.

“He’ll know what it means.” 

“...Uh...ok? Well, thanks for your secrecy, I guess,” Ranulf saluted, then bounded off into the night.

Finally, alone with my thoughts again. So it seemed that the Daein army was now making use of that horrid substance, too. But I had to wonder, if it was in existence for so long, why were people only just learning about it? How did it get from the bandits into Daien’s grasp? Or did Daien somehow have it first, but managed to keep it a secret? I had so many new questions swimming through my mind, but unfortunately, they were questions for another time, because I was unable to stay awake long enough to dwell on them.


	7. Try

“Rise and shine. Wake up. We have to leave soon.” General Ike disappeared once he heard shuffling from within my tent. 

As I groggily slipped out of my sleeping bag to put on my robes, I could feel the chill of the morning air viciously strip away the heat I had built up overnight. Probably the worst thing about mornings besides having to wake up to begin with. Ugh. 

Creeping out of the tent, I saw most others were already working to take down their setup, meanwhile I had only just woken up. So in a hurry, I scrambled to pull the wooden pegs out of the ground, letting the tent buckle under its own weight. _Great. Just great. I left all my stuff inside there. Curse you, mornings!_ I then had to manually lift up the entire tent and sift around for everything, like my tome bag and my still unrolled sleeping bag. _Ugh. Now I have to fold all this up…._

A small laugh interrupted my irritated thoughts. “You need help with that?” 

I looked up to see General Ike observing my handiwork, making my entire body heat up. “Uh…….” 

“I’ll help. We wouldn't want you to make more of a mess than you already have, now would we?” He maintained his characteristic poker face as he knelt down beside me, beginning to sort through the mess of cloth on the ground. “Just roll that up,” the boy ordered, pointing to my sleeping bag. But as he was folding up my tent, he paused and looked over at me again. “Ranulf told me what you said yesterday,” he stated.

“Oh. About the anklet?” 

General Ike nodded. “You said you had that thing on for years,” he said, recalling one of our earliest conversations. “So this got me thinking. What if it’s somehow connected to Daein?”

“Funny you should say that,” I said, remembering the night before. “I was just thinking about it last night, but I honestly don’t have enough information to come up with any connection.” 

“Information about what?” 

“The war.”

After I said that, the general raised his eyebrows and gawked at me as if I was growing two heads. He assumed that, because I had asked to join him, I was already aware of the political turmoil that had been plaguing Tellius for nearly a year. I mean, it was a fair assumption to make because pretty much everyone, even mere peasants, kept up with news of the war. But seeing as I had been separated from normal society since long before it started, that was not the case. 

So, instead of just walking away after helping me pack, General Ike decided to use what little time we had left before we needed to get moving to lecture me about the whole thing.

He basically told me that King Ashnard, the one who started all this in the first place, was only crowned because he had killed everyone who was ahead of him in line for the throne. He was determined to be in power, and once he obtained it, he used it to defame the laguz and build up his military. At first, people didn’t know why he did those things, but eventually, his motives became crystal clear. Apparently his ultimate goal was to awaken some dark god and show everyone that power triumphs all. But the only way for that to happen was to create enough conflict. So when the time was right, he unleashed his strengthened army on Crimea, and that’s when the mess began. 

The dark god business sounded pretty intense, but nothing seemed to imply a deeper connection between my anklet and the Daein forces. 

So the question still remained: how did the bandits _and_ Daein have access to that controversial concoction?

“Maybe whatever was in your anklet was something different,” General Ike finally suggested after a few minutes of us brainstorming. 

“Hmm. Could be,” I paused, looking down. “But I don’t know. That seems like too easy of an answer.”

But before we could say any more on the matter, General Ike looked back at his troops, noticing how they were anxiously awaiting our departure. “I think we’ll need to save this talk for another time,” he said, handing me my things now tied up into a neat bundle. 

_Damn. These knots are tighter than I ever made them._

“You’re all set. I suggest you get some food so you don't starve during the journey.” He then rose to his feet and confidently walked away to the more important people. 

Slipping my hands under the bundle, I gathered everything and mixed myself in with the crowd that had just started their march behind the general.

The land we traveled through was a magnificent sight, but I seemed to be the only one paying attention to it. It was a shame, but perhaps the graveness of the war hadn't sunk in completely for me like it probably had for everyone else. Many innocent folks were dying and laguz were being drugged, so of course nobody could focus on the looming mountains shrouded in haze, or the golden sunlight bathing the vast green lands around us. Even the wind that carried colossal cumulus clouds overhead and maple leaves from the sparse forest bordering our trail remained unfelt. 

It was sad to witness such a pervasive numbness. So pervasive, that even our own general felt it. His eternally stoic demeanor, his emotionless stare. It made me wonder if it was just the war that made him that way, or if he had always been like that.

All that aside, I would've admired the terrain more if it weren't for a sneaky presence I sensed behind me that tore me away from my thoughts. I whipped around to identify it, and I was pleasantly greeted by the smiling face of my new cat laguz friend.

“Don't sneak up on me like that!” I whisper-yelled, facing forward again as Ranulf skipped to my side.

“Didn't mean to interrupt whatever it was you were doing,” he smirked playfully. “Beautiful day isn't it? I bet it makes a certain someone look that much better, huh?” Ranulf glanced up front at the general, then back at me. 

I'll admit, I was taken aback by his bold statement. Even though I did catch myself glancing at General Ike a bit more than usual lately, it wasn't in the way Ranulf was probably thinking. Come to think of it, I had no idea how he even knew I had been looking up there to begin with. 

“I...you're right, the sun _does_ catch your purple eye in a nice way,” I joked, silently giggling at his now surprised face. 

But it only took mere seconds for his devious smirk to return. “Oh, why thank you, milady. But I don't mean to steal your attention.” He wagged his light blue tail contently.

_I swear, there is no winning with this guy._ “Come on, dude. I haven’t been here _that_ long, so I don't have my eyes on _any_ one right now. Never have, never will,” I huffed.

“Suuure, keep telling yourself that.” Ranulf’s ears twitched and his eyes squinted with glee.

In response to his incessant behavior, the tips of my ears burned bright red. “Don’t you think I have better things to worry about?” 

Ranulf laughed at my obvious diversion. “Yeah, but like I said, the more friends the merrier. I can talk to him for you if you want.” 

“That’s...probably not a good idea,” I said, remembering the black haired girl named Aimee. “Wouldn't want to distract him from his business and all that.” I turned away in sheer embarrassment, finding it difficult to understand what Ranulf’s goal was.

“We don't have to be all uptight, you know. But I guess you're right,” he said, seemingly dismissing the topic. 

After a long moment of silence, my eyes gravitated back to the far front of the army once we had begun ascending a small incline. I could see the general up front, and my eyes locked on to him, as if it was only natural to do so. I just...couldn’t seem to help it. But I could barely see him from where I was, so I squinted and raised my arm to shield my eyes from the sunlight.

Because of my sudden change in posture, Ranulf glanced over at me again. And after observing my trance, he laughed. “Hold on, I’ll be back,” he said, springing away toward someone else in the crowd. 

I feared he was going to head over to the general, but to my surprise, he didn’t. At least not at first. It turned out to be...someone familiar. Someone I met before who struck me as interesting. But I couldn’t tell who he was. All I could see was brown hair from the back. But as soon as Ranulf made his way to the boy’s side, he turned. And then I saw his gray eyes. It was none other than the shopkeeper from the village! _Hold up, when did he get here? And what business does Ranulf have with him?_

I had to find out. I just had to. So, after checking my surroundings, I waited until there was enough space between the walking soldiers so I could squeeze past them and sneak toward Ranulf and the shopkeeper. I managed to get through a short distance with minimal collisions, but as I approached the two, I felt my eyes begin to strain and ache. I winced slightly at the pain, pressing on my skull to ease it. But it didn’t help. It must have been because I forgot to eat and drink water before the journey or something. _I should have listened to the general._ But regardless of the cause, it was impossible for me to focus on what they were saying because of the blasted head pains. 

_No matter._ I was determined to find out what they were up to. So, I did my best to keep a quick pace, slowly inching closer to them, but by the time I got within about 8 or 9 feet from the two, the shopkeeper turned around for a moment, and his silver eyes widened. He looked...anxious or nervous for some reason. Then, he turned back to Ranulf and appeared to calmly excuse himself from the conversation they were having.

_Wait,_ I thought.

Before I knew it, the mysterious young man was lost among the sea of people traversing the land with me. It would be virtually impossible to find him again, so I quickly gave up my search and eyed Ranulf, but he failed to notice me. Instead, he skipped over to the general.

Great. So not only had my worst fears been realized, but I was also fresh out of people to have accompany me on the journey. It felt...lonely for once. _Maybe I do need more than one friend._

“Well hello there, milady.” Gatrie had weaseled his way by my side somehow.

_Oh hell._

After another torturous while, there was still a short stretch of flat land filled with tall, healthy grass ahead of us. The dusty path we followed led to a barrier of relatively small mountains guarding titanous, snow capped ones that loomed high above everything else. As we approached them, they towered higher and higher over us, seeming to pass judgements on our tiny forms. 

We squeezed through the first row of shadowy mountains and headed forth to a valley of epic proportions. A huge patch of sunlight forced its way above the mountain tops behind us, casting an interesting shadow on the earth. And at last, our walk came to an end once General Ike halted at the opposite end of the great valley. 

“Thank god,” I sighed, shooing Gatrie away and dropping everything, including myself, onto the ground. My legs felt like they were on fire, so I decided to give them a little break before even thinking about pitching my tent. But then I remembered I hadn’t tested out my magic since hearing the Galdr. My face lit up, and suddenly, I wasn’t tired anymore. _Today will be different._

Feeling a burst of energy, I grabbed my bundle of cloth from the ground. I was in so much of a hurry to set everything up, but the only thing holding me back were the darned knots that General Ike had tied earlier. A solid five minutes of my time ended up being wasted by some god forsaken knots! But once the thick twine loosened just enough for me to fling it off, everything else was a piece of cake. I sloppily pitched my tent and threw all of my belongings inside, ready to get on with the rest of my evening. 

“You seem well.” General Ike had one hand placed on his waist as he examined the excitement on my face. But he raised his brow slightly once he caught sight of my rather messy looking hovel. 

“Oh hello, General,” I smiled timidly, lowering my head.

His cobalt eyes were fixated on one part of my tent. “I don't know how you did it, but I don't think that spot is supposed to droop like yours is. It takes some skill to get it like that.” 

_Did he just...subtly dis me?_

He brushed past me and reached up to fix the sagging portion of the tent, then turned back to me, immediately changing the subject. “Have you checked so see if your magic works since yesterday?” He crossed his arms, looking at me in a way that seemed like a glare.

“Oh, um...I was actually just about to get to that. But I...don't really want people seeing me practice,” I muttered, timorously staring down at my feet. 

“Well, there’s a forest not too far from here,” General Ike said, appearing confused by my apparent shyness. “But I really don't want you going in there alone. You know, for your own safety.”

“Then what am I supposed to do?” I asked, cheeks burning. 

“Well, since I’m the only one that knows of your powers, I guess I’ll go with you,” he replied, confidently holding eye contact with me even though I wasn’t able to return the favor.

“O-ok, but...won't you be busy with...things?” Perhaps general related things, or that Aimee girl. 

“Don’t worry about that. I have some time,” the boy assured me. “I just really need you to be able to fight. I’ll let Titania and Soren know first in case we’re late coming back. Wait here.” He went off in search of the two, not even waiting for me to agree to this sudden offer.

As I watched the general walk away, I immediately felt anxious for his return, and a noticeable blush painted my face pink. For whatever reason, I found myself becoming unbearably nervous around him even though virtually nothing had changed between us since I first joined. Maybe it was just strange to me that a high ranking person such as himself was even bothering to help me out so much.

While I was caught up in those thoughts, General Ike returned. He came back way faster than I expected, so my flushed face was, unfortunately, still on display. The boy, upon noticing my rose-dusted cheeks, tilted his head slightly and narrowed his eyes.

“Yes?” I asked nervously, averting my gaze.

In response, the blue haired boy just shook his head. “It’s nothing,” he said. “Let’s go.” Then, he quickly ushered me toward the forest. 

All of a sudden, paranoid thoughts invaded my once excited mind. Why was he in such a hurry to isolate me from camp? _Oh no. Don’t think like that._ But it was too late. The idea was already implanted in my dumb brain, and there was no stopping it from spiralling out of control. What if he had been secretly teamed up with the bandits the whole time and just tried to build up my trust so he could eventually trick me and turn me over to the hooligans? Leading defenseless old me into a forest with just him, acting all nice, it was the perfect setup. _Shut up brain, you’re insane. You have to trust him. Ahhh but that’s what he wants me to do._ But despite my paranoia, I continued following him like a sheep, into the foreboding forest that screamed of danger. The farther we got from camp, the more intense my fears became, and I wanted to run so badly, but I held myself back. 

“What’s wrong? You don't look too good.” General Ike stopped and looked at me worriedly.

“I’m...I’m scared,” I muttered instinctively. 

“Scared? Why?”

If he really was partnered with the bandits, he was doing a damn good job covering up his malintent. “I...I don’t know,” I trembled.

The boy frowned at my apparent distress. “I’ll stand by you. Just do what you can.” 

Negative thoughts aside, I did my best to trust his word, so I shakily pulled out my Jörð tome. I looked back to make sure the general wasn’t going to make any sudden moves, and then I opened the tome to one of its pages, carefully studying the words on the paper. I knew the words, but I hesitated to put them to use. Looking back at the general again, I noticed he had adopted a confused expression. 

“Something the matter?” He furrowed his brow. 

Shaking my head without a word, I returned my focus to the old script in the tome. I read it and reread it, so mentally, I was more than ready to cast the spell, but physically I was not. I willed myself to raise my arm and cast the spell, but it just would not happen.

Looking around, I began to feel panic well up inside me. The shadows from the trees suddenly appeared to expand into large, haunting ones, as if to warn me of my impending doom. _What...what is going on?_ Moans and whispers swamped my brain, and a few tears dripped down my face as my vision abandoned me. But, as stupid as I was, I tried to appear strong and pretend like none of this was happening. I tried, with all my strength, to lift my arm and cast a spell, but I had no energy left.

General Ike caught my swaying body, holding me up with his own. “Maybe this isn't a good idea,” he spoke quietly. 

But upon feeling his support, I could feel my head rush with a sudden warmth, and my vision snapped back into focus. “No, I can't leave yet. I have to...try,” I grunted weakly, pushing myself away from the general.

He stayed close behind me, watching as I angrily lifted my arm in an attempt to cast my old spell. 

And with a flick of my wrist, a 3 foot tall bump appeared in the soil. I gasped. For once, something actually worked! I should have been overjoyed, because it was a clear sign that the heron’s song had worked, but that little bump wasn't what was supposed to happen. “That's not...right,” I said as the bump reverted back to normal, flat terrain. I needed to try again. 

But before I could even make a second attempt, a figure burst out from behind a tree. “HaHA! We gotcha cornered now, earth girl! Thought we’d give up so easily?” It was Yandel. More bandits dropped from some of the other trees, and within seconds, I was almost completely surrounded.

_How did these people follow me all the way the frick out here? Did my general lead me into this after all?_ I panicked, jumping far away from General Ike and into the center of the circle consisting of him and the other bandits. 

Then, Yandel whipped out another one of those black anklets and he sneered menacingly. “Got some pretty jewelry for ya, too.”

I stared at the glowing metal, and the sight of the wretched thing induced a sudden and intense migraine, causing me to teeter and lose some of my focus.

_Shhhing._ General Ike drew a shining silver blade from his sheath.

_Ugh, I can’t...I can’t fight,_ I clutched my head and tried to keep the last of my balance. _I can’t fight him AND the bandits._

“Stop right there, you clowns,” General Ike hissed. “Take one step closer to her and I assure you that it’ll be your last.” The boy’s once concerned voice was now cold and hostile.

_Wait, what?_

“Oh yeah? And who might you be, kid?” Yandel snarled.

“I’m Ike. Leader of the Crimean Liberation Army.” His words sliced the air.

“Sure. And I'm the King of Begnion.” The bandit rolled his eyes and laughed heartily, but then he scowled fiercely. “That girl...belongs tah me.” Drawing a slightly rusted steel axe and holding it high above his head, he started to clumsily charge at us in a blind fury.

As soon as Yandel took that first step, the general dashed toward me with alarming speed, instinctively sweeping me up and tossing me over his shoulder to keep me out of harm’s way. He pointed his blade at the approaching buffoon, then skillfully sidestepped at the last second, swinging his blade down through Yandel and killing him instantly.

With a heavy clang, the bandit’s axe fell to the ground, soon followed by its handler’s now lifeless body. His crew could do nothing but stand there and gawk.

I couldn’t believe it either. Just like that, the man who had troubled me for so long was gone. Defeated at the hands of my general. How could I have ever questioned his motives?

“You dun killed our leader!” One of the bandits spat in rage, cueing the other bandits to break out of their stupor and begin closing in on us.

Soon, axes came crashing down around us left and right, but somehow, with a few carefully timed twists, jumps, and side steps, General Ike was able to dodge nearly all of their attacks in the initial onslaught. But unfortunately, that was only a temporary solution. The space around us was rapidly tightening, making it nearly impossible for him to avoid their weapons for much longer.

_We’re doomed!_ I thought as I sealed my eyes, preparing for our demise.

But it was soon clear that the brave general hadn’t given up as quickly as I had. As the bandits crept ever closer, he squatted for a moment, then leapt high into the air. He backflipped over the hooligans and impressively twisted around their attacks, and before I knew it, we were on the fringe of the horde.

Now, the bandits were absolutely livid that they were being outshined by a mere teenager. Shouting obscene words and raising their weapons in the air, they furiously ran at us in a highly unorganized stampede.

_Get out of the way, do something!_ I pleaded in my head.

But General Ike simply stood where he was, watching the riffraff approach our location.

_What is he doing?! He’s going to get us both killed!_

Little did I know, this was all part of his plan. When the delinquents were within reach, he powerfully cut through the front row of them with ease. The remaining dimwits tripped over their fallen comrades and crashed into each other, granting General Ike more than enough time to eliminate those who were still alive.

Once the last bandit was brutally defeated, silence finally returned to the forest.

My commander dropped his sword and gently placed me back down on the ground, looking at me with great concern. “Are you ok?” He asked.

Well, physically I was fine, but mentally, I was nothing short of a mess. I was blown away by how easily he handled those bandits. But I also felt so ashamed that I ever doubted him. He didn’t know I did, but I still felt so stupid. “Y-yeah. I'm fine now,” I mumbled monotonously, still trying to process the sudden attack. “Thank you for saving me...again.”

Suddenly, the general’s concerned look faded into one of suspicion. “Now, how did you know there was danger?” The nature of his question made it feel like the start of an interrogation.

I looked up at him, slightly surprised. _Oh shoot. I swear I’m innocent._ “I...I didn't. I was just scared.” I truly didn’t know.

“Surely you were scared for a reason,” he pressed, narrowing his eyes. 

_Yes. Because I thought you were going to hand me off to bandits, not save me from them!_ I stayed quiet for a moment, trying to think of a way to explain it to him, but the long silence probably made me seem even more suspicious. “I was just nervous. I haven’t been separated from the group like that since I joined.” I finally said. “It brought back bad feelings.”

“Oh,” his voice quickly softened. “I’m sorry. Maybe it's best we go back then.”

“No, wait. We can’t go back yet. I still have to try.” I felt a little bit of my strength flare up inside of me.

General Ike’s eyes widened in slight surprise, but he said nothing.

I couldn’t wait any longer to regain my lost skills. I had to prove to my general that I wasn’t a helpless waste of space. So with a determined look on my face, I firmly grasped my tome and flipped to a page, shooting my other arm up to cast the spell. Miraculously, about five tall and jagged stalagmite-like structures forcefully jutted up from the ground around Yandel’s body. A large plume of dust and grass accompanied them, momentarily catching a few beams of sunlight that filtered in from between the tree leaves above us. Then, as quickly as the spikes had appeared, they returned to flat earth, leaving nothing more than a thin layer of soil over the motionless bandit.

I laughed softly and a little sadistically. “Yes! Yes! That's not as strong as it should be, but yes! That's it!” My eyes twinkled.

“Wow,” General Ike said, staring at the attack site in awe. “Excellent work, Serena. Try it again,” he encouraged.

Looking at the spell book, I brought my hand up once more, and the earth blades made their return, shooting up and spreading fine powder around the forest’s floor. _I’m back, baby,_ I thought, grinning widely as I tried to catch my breath. I glanced back at my commander, and he, too, was smiling. Like, genuinely smiling.

“Let’s call it a day,” the general beamed. “Don’t push yourself just yet.”

“Good idea. Thank you,” I replied graciously, following his lead back to camp. Smiling contently, I tried to bask in the glory of my regained strength and enjoy the pleasant air and sun filled sky around us, but I still felt...off, I guess. Not just because the bandits had somehow found me still. There was a new worry climbing above the others, making its way to the forefront of my mind.

Pulling up the sleeve of my robe and the tight band I wore underneath it, I stared at the intricate red mark imprinted on my forearm. My brand. _I wonder, would things be different if he saw this?_


	8. Doubts

Over the next few days, we continued our journey through the massive, winding mountain range. With my old abilities making their return, I started looking forward to things I usually found tedious or mundane. Like, I would normally hate trudging uphill for miles (as anyone would), but just knowing I was making a comeback made it way more enjoyable somehow. 

I also noticed that the general was beginning to check in with me more often than before, at least during these last few days. In fact, he never skipped a single day, always making sure everything was ok on my end. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, but I thought it was sweet. 

After our journey for the day, we set up camp farther along the mountain range at the base of the tallest peak. The view of the sky from there was almost picture perfect. I mean, half of it was blocked by the towering peak behind us, but the other half in front of it was almost completely unobstructed. _This looks perfect for stargazing,_ I thought, peering up at the clear blue sky above the hazy mountain tops. I hadn’t gotten the opportunity to watch the stars since I was on the island, but I was determined to change that by the end of the night. I smiled in excitement, reminiscing in memories of my father and I pointing out planets and watching shooting stars.

Once General Ike checked in with me, I scoured the campground for a good location in preparation for the night. Thankfully I didn’t need to search all too hard, since some ways away from my tent, there was a small rock ledge overlooking the area, and it appeared to be the ideal spot. Excited by the discovery, I scaled the miniature cliff and investigated the location. And just as I had thought, it was perfect. I kneeled down and gently caressed the smooth stony shelf, occasionally feeling soft, moist loam under my dry palms. The icing on the cake. I figured I’d use the spot to practice my powers, too, since nobody had time to escort me outside camp that day. 

So, I stood back up and turned away from camp, moving to a location on the shelf far enough away so that nobody could see me. Then, I sent earth spears up from the ground in a rocky explosion, with much more ease and a little more strength than the last time. I smirked at the successful attack, but then I frowned. I could feel people’s eyes gravitating toward me, and a few presences drawing near. The amount of dirt and stone that had been thrown into the air along with the ear shattering noise from my attack must have been...concerning for them, to say the least. 

_I totally forgot how loud and destructive this spell can be,_ I thought, staring at the pile of shattered sandstone in front of me. With a flushed face, I reluctantly turned around to see the people that were staring at me. Their eyes were wide, their eyebrows were raised, their mouths hung agape. _Maybe this was a mistake._ I immediately crouched down and snuck behind the rubble in an effort to hide from any onlookers, panting heavily out of nervousness the whole way there. Then, I lightly rested my back on the sharp stones, clutching my chest, thinking. 

After my heart calmed down a little and my breathing returned to normal, I realized something. I realized how silly of me it was to hide from my allies. _They’re not bandits,_ I repeated to myself. _They’re not bandits._ And if I was going to be fighting alongside these people, they’d have to find out about my powers one way or another.

It was a tough mental barrier to get past, but just knowing that I had at least a couple people sort of on my side was enough to ease my nerves, and I was finally able to remove my delicate hand from my aching chest. 

But just when I thought I was finally calm, my heart rate picked up again for no apparent reason. With it came a sharp, throbbing pain that radiated through my skull. I audibly winced, falling forward onto my elbows and soiling the sleeves of my robes in the loam. _No._

A strange feeling of sadness, depression, and emptiness engulfed my being, twisting my stomach into sickly knots, nearly heaving out my innards. _No, not this._

I crawled out from behind the heap of rock in a desperate attempt to escape the source of these mysterious feelings, but it only got worse. But, me being me, I wasn’t about to let myself collapse on that ledge like a spineless shrimp! No way in hell! So, making a last ditch effort, I tried to stand up. Probably the worst choice I could have made, because once I got to my feet, it felt like I just got punched in the head. That horrible ringing noise. The pain. _No no no not here. I have to...get...down…._

I stupidly stumbled toward the edge of the stony shelf, not fully aware of anything at all really. It wasn’t until my teetering self took one step off the small bluff that I somewhat realized my nearly fatal mistake. But by then, it was too late. My body plummeted down about 20 feet and hit the ground hard, knocking me out cold instantly. 

After an immeasurable amount of time, my eyes opened to see a glowing staff hovering mere inches in front of my face. There were a couple blobs of color behind the staff as well, but my vision was too blurry to tell what they were. And...was I in someone else’s tent? (I asked myself this because the inside didn't seem shoddy from what I could tell).

“She’s waking up,” a silvery male voice spoke.

“Oh, thank the goddess,” someone else murmured, sounding concerned. 

Slowly but surely, I regained my eyesight and saw that the staff holder had orange hair and wasn't someone I was familiar with. The other person, however, I immediately recognized. It was the shopkeeper again. His gray eyes were so piercing they made my own hurt.

“Girl, are you ok? Can you hear me?” The orange haired man voiced a little louder than before.

Everything was still slightly hazy, but I managed to respond. “Y-yeah. What in blazes happened?” I asked, glancing at the shopkeeper.

“You fell from a cliff, just before a group of...bandits tried to raid us,” the shopkeeper boy scowled. “The others are just wrapping up with them now.”

“Knox here was the one who brought you over to me. We’re glad you're ok,” the orange haired priest sighed, lowering his staff. “How do you feel?”

I rubbed my head, which was still in agonizing pain. “I feel...pretty good. May I leave?” I said, eager to escape being near the humans, even though they saved my life.

“I think we should keep an eye on you a little longer, just to be safe,” the priest looked down at me, concerned.

But just then, the flaps of the tent opened unexpectedly and revealed General Ike, who instantly locked eyes with me.

“Excuse me, Rhys. Do you mind if I borrow her? It's important,” the boy said.

Important? Oh this could not be good.

“Of course.” Rhys handed me over to him obediently, and my commander hurried me over to a large tent past some of the dead bandit bodies strewn about the camp. And let me tell you, he did not seem happy. Seeing the sheer amount of bandits everywhere, I could certainly understand why.

Once we arrived, my headache had subsided, and I was greeted by Ranulf, Titania, and Soren. The last of which looked...particularly irritated.

“So, this girl is back again?” Soren said, glaring at me. “I told you before. She's a danger to our operations. I still say we fire her, and my opinion won't change just because she's standing in front of me.” He crossed his arms. Ouch. “What if she's a spy? We can't have bandits, let alone our enemies, knowing our whereabouts at all times, especially not now, not when we’re so close to winning.” He glanced at the general.

Not gonna lie, I sort of agreed with Soren on this one. All I had done so far was attract bandits. The last thing I wanted to do was get in the way of everyone’s efforts.

“Look.” General Ike closed his eyes and sighed. “Even if there's the possibility that she's a spy, it's a low one. Whoever sent her would have to come up with an extremely intricate story and set-up just to pull this off,” he defended, to my surprise. “I still don't think she’s a spy.”

I eyed the blue haired boy curiously, bewildered as to why he’d even bother wasting his energy.

“But can we afford to take that chance?” Soren said. “It’s just one member, and if we fire her now, we won't have to deal with extra problems on top of what we already have going on,” he continued. “The outcome of the entire war could be at stake here, Ike. Do you really want to risk that?”

 _He really has a point._ I lowered my gaze. _Just fire me and get it over with._

Suddenly, Ranulf raised his hand and decided to chime in. “Hey, it’s to my understanding that only the officials of this army have access to our plans. When have you seen her meddling in any of that?” Ranulf retorted.

General Ike nodded in agreement.

“She could've been listening in during our war meetings,” Soren argued. “Any talented spy would know how to get away with it.”

_Oh so now I’m **talented** all of a sudden?_

“Oh please,” Ranulf responded. “Our meetings are heavily guarded. We even have the sharpest eyes on watch for any suspicious activity. Besides, we don’t talk _that_ loudly.”

“I think Serena has a lot to offer us, too,” General Ike added. “More than most, in fact. Maybe if you saw her skills, your view might change.”

Titania glanced at me. “Ike might be right. You bring up a good point, Soren, but you should give her a good chance first.” The red haired woman seemed eager to witness the mysterious abilities that the general was referencing.

“I'm only thinking of what's best for us.” Soren looked away. “But please, why don’t you show me what she can do if you’re so insistent on having her here.” 

General Ike gave me an emotionless stare. “Serena, are you willing to show the rest of us? You can't keep this a secret much longer.”

I came to the same realization before that mistake of a discussion, so I felt more than ready to oblige. “Sure,” I mumbled, looking down.

With that, General Ike led me and the others to the outskirts of camp (where there were no bodies). The four of them crowded around me in a semicircle as I crouched down and felt some dry, loose soil beneath my palms. _Please, magic, don’t fail me now. Don’t malfunction out of nowhere or I will kill you._ I closed my eyes and sucked in my breath, channeling whatever energy I had into the ground. I heard surprised gasps from Ranulf and Titania as they watched the large patch of dirt slowly darken and begin to sprout patches of clover. 

“Alright,” Soren said, sounding somewhat impressed. “And how is this supposed to help us? Last time I checked, we’re not a farm.”

“Just watch, will you?” General Ike ordered sternly.

Without turning around or saying anything, I yanked out my Jörð tome, feeling Soren’s curiosity begin to rise. And with a flick of my wrist, about eight rocky spikes shot up out of the soil, then softened and flattened within seconds. After wiping the sweat off my brow, I faced the group once again.

“Look. Her skills could prove useful to us,” the general advocated. “And it just wouldn't make sense to leave her on her own right now, either.”

“This still doesn't mean she’s not a spy.” These words flew coldly out of Soren’s mouth. “But...if you want to let her stay, Ike, then fine.”

_I feel like that’s a mistake. Just...I’m no good here._

“What do the rest of you think?” The blue haired boy questioned.

“I’ll admit, I’m impressed with her abilities,” Titania expressed. “But, with what’s been happening lately, I would say keep a close eye on her.” 

“Well, I’m all for her staying,” Ranulf said.

“Then it's settled.” General Ike looked at Soren for a moment, then he turned to me, eyeing me worriedly. “Serena, you're still in for now,” he said, then addressed the group sternly. “And I think we’re done with this discussion.” The boy dismissed everyone without any further talk.

The others walked off toward their tents, Ranulf and Soren sparing both of us a quick glance. I, however, stayed petrified in my spot. My muscles were frozen from awkwardness and guilt.

“Need to talk still?” The boy faced me again and adjusted his sky blue cape.

“Oh, y-yes sir,” I stuttered, bowing my head down when I realized that I had been inadvertently staring at my commander like a fool.

The general raised an eyebrow, looking at me curiously.

Clasping my hands together in front of me, I tried my best to appear formal while I expressed my concerns to the boy. “I’m...I’m sorry for all this trouble.” I said, frowning.

Upon hearing my words, a slightly pained look made its way onto the boy’s face. “Don’t worry about it. Really.”

I sighed, continuing to avoid eye contact with him. The thoughts that swam through my mind were too grave to ignore. “But what if Soren is right? I mean, if I’m drawing in these bandits, I might attract even worse.”

“My advice, don’t let him get to you,” General Ike said. “He can be overly critical sometimes.”

Despite his reassurance, it failed to stop the pervasive thoughts that told me I was unwelcome. I tugged at my sleeve nervously, still unable to face the boy. “But I feel like he’s being pretty logical here.”

“I know him well enough to know that sometimes he’s wrong,” he said. “Your situation might actually be useful to us.”

“How can you even see the good in this?” I cried.

The general seemed a bit taken aback by my emotional tone, but I’m sure he understood where I was coming from. “Think about it,” he said calmly. “Most bandits are pretty stupid, but they’re not stupid enough to raid an entire army of their own accord.”

 _How does that make any sense?_ I thought. “But...they just tried, didn’t they?”

General Ike shook his head. “So far we’ve had two separate bandit groups come after you while you were here,” he paused, waiting to see if I had any input. “I’m not convinced their own selfish desires are enough to warrant these attacks.”

After dwelling on his words for a brief moment, a lightbulb went off in my head. “Are you saying someone else might be behind this?”

The boy smiled as he nodded affirmatively. “That’s my guess anyway.”

I’ll admit, it seemed like he was on to something, but I still failed to see how that would be useful to the army in any way. “But see, that’s my point. If there's some mastermind behind this, wouldn’t it be a bad idea to draw their attention to you guys?”

“Not necessarily,” General Ike said. “Whoever it is seems more focused on you. And besides, something tells me they’re trying to avoid getting involved themselves.”

“Then why involve yourself if it only concerns me?” 

The boy blinked. “You sure ask a lot of questions don’t you,” he laughed.

_He **laughed**!_

“Truthfully, I just want to help you.” Running his partially gloved fingers through his deep blue tresses, he continued. “I don’t think this is something you can solve on your own.”

In response to his apparent kindness, my cheeks turned a light crimson. “O-oh. I...I couldn’t possibly ask you to bear this burden though…not when you’ve got a war to focus on.”

“Don’t worry about it,” the boy smiled. “And who knows. We might find out something useful for ourselves too. I think that's a good enough reason for me to try to get to the bottom of this.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, hesitantly looking up at the general.

“I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t.”

Taking a small bow, I said, “thank you, sir.”

General Ike watched me curiously as I bowed, but he didn’t return the gesture. “Just try not to wander off anywhere on your own, ok?” he nodded and adjusted his belt, finally taking his leave to his tent.

Then I shuffled back to my own, mixed feelings crowding my mind. I felt so guilty for putting all this on the general, but at the same time, he didn’t seem to have a problem with it. I tried accepting this, but believe me it was next to impossible.

Once crickets began to emerge and the last bit of chatter finally died down, I poked my head outside and looked up at the sky. There were thousands, perhaps millions of stars twinkling down at me, and I desperately wanted to get a better view of it. If not to access my inner child, then to calm my nerves and get my mind off of all the chaos. I had planned to do it that night anyway, and I certainly wasn’t gonna let any dumb bandits ruin my plans. Before I made my daring sneak toward the rock ledge from earlier, I checked both sides of my tent to make sure nobody would be able to spot me.

When I was positive the coast was clear, I crouched low to the ground and tiptoed through the flaps of my tent, careful to avoid small twigs and leaves in an effort to stay silent. But I didn’t even make it halfway to the ledge before I heard the grass rustle behind me. _Oh shit._

A quiet yet firm voice spoke. "Where are you going?”

I slowly turned around to see General Ike looming over me, staring down at my trembling body angrily. I squeaked and fell backward.

“Sorry, didn't mean to scare you.” He kindly offered a hand and forcefully tugged me to my feet, but his expression hardened once I brushed myself off and stood like a puppy caught misbehaving. “You shouldn't be out here sneaking about. Especially after what happened today. Have you no sense?” He scolded.

“S-sorry. I...I just wanted to stargaze. I haven't been able to in a while and….” My face contorted a little as I stared down at my feet.

The boy sighed. “If you wanted to, you should've just asked one of your friends to accompany you. Like Ranulf or something. Your safety is important.” His gaze softened.

“He’s asleep though,” I paused and looked at the general shyly. I had an idea. “Would...would _you_ mind?” It felt strange to ask. Almost wrong. But after how kind he had been to me, I felt compelled to.

General Ike blinked. “Oh, um...sure.” He cleared his throat and looked off to the side. “Not for too long, though. There’s a battle coming up this week and both of us have been stressed, so we need our rest. Now, where were you headed?” He sounded a bit tense and passive, but that was understandable.

“Up there,” I pointed to the rock ledge and looked up at my commander’s moonlit face with innocent, apologetic eyes. _Wait. He looks kinda...good in the moonlight? Wait, no._ I mentally slapped myself. _Shut up, brain._ My emotions were beginning to make me uncomfortable, so I scrambled to come up with a reason for them. And my brilliant explanation: I was so caught up in the excitement and anticipation of getting to see the stars, some of those emotions may have weirdly bubbled over into places they shouldn’t have. Yeah. That seemed right.

When we made it up to the ledge, we parked ourselves a short distance away from the mysterious pile of destruction that I totally did not create.

I rested my back on the cool stone beneath us, and my commander took a seat a short distance away from me, loosely wrapping an arm around his bent leg.

We sat in silence for quite a while, just looking at the vast expanse of the night. Stars were everywhere: the same set of stars I would see during those humid summer nights on the island. And in the center of it all was the grand, glittery belt that wrapped the sky as if it was encasing our gem of a planet. But somehow, it didn’t seem as glorious as I remembered. It was almost like it had been dulled down or dimmed somehow.

And sadly, General Ike seemed even more dull. Not even a little excited. “So...what are we looking for?” He spoke abruptly.

“Nothing in particular. Just wanted to see the view,” I responded quietly, frowning a little.

“Why?”

 _Why? Is that even a question?_ “Well, I think it’s fascinating. I used to do this a lot when I was younger.”

“Hm. I never really bothered to do this before,” he said, sounding bored.

“Hah, guess it’s just me then,” I sighed awkwardly, not wanting to speak anymore.

Again, there was silence for a while until he turned to me and spoke up.

“Hey. Now that you can use your magic, would you feel comfortable fighting in the next battle?” The blue haired boy sat up straight and peered down at me, still on my back.

I righted myself. All these years I had wanted to regain my abilities so badly, and fight like I once did as a Master, but now that fighting was a real possibility, I couldn’t quell the memories of my last battle on the island. “Um...I don't know…I don't know if that's a good idea,” I said instinctively and looked away, feeling my stomach turn inside out at the thought of it all. _Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid why are you even in this army if you’re not even going to help the very people helping **you**?_

General Ike stared at me as if thinking the exact same thing I was. “If I didn't think it was a good idea, I wouldn't have asked you,” he scoffed.

My face flushed. “I...well...I dunno. My powers aren't that great right now. They're still weak.”

“Weak?” The teen’s eyes widened. “If you call that weak, then that's all the more reason to have you battle. Those attacks I saw were no joke, Serena. And what's more is, the enemy will have no idea what to expect.” There was a calm fury swimming in his ocean blue eyes.

I met them with my own earthy brown ones, feeling the same kind of energy begin to grow within me. “Hmm...I guess it'll give me practice, too,” I added, as if I had agreed with him the entire time. “Fine. I'll do it. What are we up against?”

The general smiled at my response, and excitement flared up within him, now that we were talking about war related things. “Um...paladins and wyvern lords. Could be some mages or other infantry units, as well.”

I grimaced a little. “I...can't really hit flying enemies….” I said, feeling the brief pumped up feeling I had begin to dwindle.

“That's fine. I'll just station you with...hmm...how about Ranulf? I think you'd be able to work well together.”

I didn't know what he was like in battle, but I had a good feeling he would be able to protect me well enough. After all, laguz were known to be some of the most fearsome fighters on Tellius. “I think I’d like that,” I smiled slightly. “Hold on. Speaking of Ranulf, has he been talking to you about me?”

The general blinked, seeming a bit taken aback by my query. “Yeah, actually. Why?”

 _Damn, I **knew** it,_ I thought, glaring at the ground. “What has he been saying?”

“I don’t know, he keeps going on about how you’re sort of...different from other people he’s met. Something like that.” He looked over at me, holding eye contact for just a little bit longer than usual, causing my face to heat up.

Once we both realized we were practically having a staring contest, we looked away rather quickly and blushed awkwardly.

“I wouldn't worry about it,” the general said. “What you should be worrying about now is sleep. We head out early tomorrow. Come on.” He stood up and waited for me to make a move.

I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to stay outside for longer, but whatever. Effortfully standing up, I closely followed his lead down the ledge and back to my hovel.

“Sleep well,” he told me before walking off and disappearing into the sea of tents.


	9. Practice Makes Perfect

“Hey, you!” someone said nearby.

It was the next evening, and I had been in a particularly good mood since last night. I turned to face the source of the voice, but I didn’t expect him to be looking directly at me, so the smile that was on my face quickly faded.

“Yes, you!” It was Knox the shopkeeper. “I need to talk to you!” he waved.

I hadn’t eaten all day so my head began to hurt a bit, but I had been meaning to talk to Knox ever since I first saw him. I wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity over some stupid hunger headache! So, I walked over to him.

“What a coincidence seeing you here,” he beamed at me with his steely eyes. “So how are you today, miss?”

“Um...I’m alright, I guess.”

“I’m glad,” Knox replied. “That bandit attack yesterday was no joke.”

I nodded, grimacing at the recent memory. “Say, what brings you here?” I asked, changing the subject. “I thought you were in charge of that family owned market back in that village.”

“Ah, yes. Well, unfortunately, it got destroyed in the raid. It was set on fire and so I was nearly left homeless and without a job. When I saw that the Crimean Army was in town, I figured I would try for another merchant position,” he explained, resting his hand on the back of his neck. “I ended up as a messenger instead.”

“Ahh, I see.” I didn’t recall seeing him with us when we left the town, but I wasn’t really too keen on looking for people at that point, anyway.

“So, you’re Serena, is that right?” he asked.

I nodded affirmatively and raised an eyebrow, not quite remembering how he knew my name.

“Pleasure to be reacquainted with you,” Knox smiled. “Say, why don’t we get to know each other a little bit, since we’re going to be in this for a while.”

_Uh oh._ I wasn’t sure if that was a subtle invitation to start flirting with me like another Gatrie, but I felt good enough about him to give conversation a chance. He seemed different enough from most beorc, so I felt somewhat comfortable. And as Ranulf said, the more friends the merrier.

So, Knox and I started walking aimlessly around camp, and as we talked, I felt that he was a little bit strange. Not that being strange is a bad thing, but I don’t know how else to describe it. He seemed like a nice person overall, but his opinion of laguz, in particular heron laguz, made it seem like he was ill informed, I guess. For instance, although he told me he admired the abilities and strength of most laguz, he kept saying how the herons were relatively weak and all looked the same, and that some of the laguz were not as refined as beorc. At least in terms of table manners and such. I honestly couldn’t disagree with him on that last point, because after seeing Ranulf eat one time, I nearly questioned who I had become friends with.

Aside from that though, he had some interesting tales to tell of his travels before he became a merchant in that town. He told me he had been to every country and capital city on Tellius, and stayed in each place for a while to “absorb the nuances of their culture”, as he put it. He once even journeyed from the outer border of Daein to the edge of Goldoa, all on foot! On his trip, he met the heron laguz (despite how much he seemed to dislike them) and learned the ancient tongue like a natural. I asked him to speak a few words in the language as proof, and I was astounded when I heard it for myself.

Eventually, we approached the edge of camp, and I started to panic. “Hey, I don’t think we should stray too far from everyone,” I said in a somewhat shaky voice, staring at the narrow mountain trail ahead of us.

“Oh, wait,” Knox said. “I forgot to mention, the general had originally sent me to fetch you. He said something about wanting to train with you.”

_He did?_ “R-really?”

“Oh yes,” he assured me. “He was a little busy so he asked me to pass the message onto you. I promised him I’d get you to the training spot once I found you, but...I guess I got a little carried away talking,” Knox trailed off sheepishly.

“Hey, Serena!” I heard Ranulf’s voice coming from behind us. “Over here!” I whipped around to see him accompanied by General Ike, Soren, and...Aimee, of course.

“Oops, sorry Knox,” I glanced at the approaching group. “I enjoyed talking to you though.” I bade him farewell and dashed toward the others, making a point to avoid looking at Aimee and Soren. “I thought you guys were already up at the training spot,” I said.

“Nah, we were just coming to get you now. Ike told me you’re going to be battling with us next time, so I thought we should practice,” Ranulf answered excitedly. “You have to get a good feel for how we work together before jumping into a real battle, you know.”

“Right,” I said. I guessed that’s what Knox meant by training.

“Oh, Ikey!” Aimee said. “May I watch you train? I would just love to see how strong you look in action,” she grinned flirtatiously.

The sound of her voice seemed to shock the others, and Ike and Soren in particular seemed rather annoyed for some reason.

“What on earth are you doing here still?” General Ike scowled.

“To see you, my sweet,” she sang, referring to the blue haired general. “I’ll be there to cheer you on!”

The boy sighed. “Focus on your own business,” he said rather dismissively.

_Damn, are those two really together?_ I was starting to doubt it, but I still felt an inexplicable jealousy begin to surface. _I guess couples get on each other’s nerves now and then…_

The pink robed woman sighed and turned back to camp as I joined up with the group, once again pushing their little interaction to the back of my mind.

We made our way through the little mountain trail that Knox intended to take me through, and eventually reached a relatively small plateau.

“Wait, how is this supposed to work again?” I asked as General Ike and Soren started walking to the opposite end of the plateau.

“You’re going to fight alongside Ranulf,” General Ike said. “And you two are going to face off against me and Soren. I’ll give you some tips if I think you need it.”

“Ike, are you sure she’s suited for this level of combat?” Soren chimed in rudely and crossed his arms. “She couldn’t even use her magic a few days ago.”

“Yes,” the blue eyed boy nodded. “I have a feeling she’s more skilled than she lets on,” he glanced at me knowingly, then looked back at the mage by his side.

Soren turned to him in surprise, seeming to be mildly intrigued by the remark, but he said nothing. He just narrowed his red eyes and clutched the sleeve of his robe in his scrawny fist.

I looked down at the smooth stone floor, feeling my cheeks flush from the rage that started bubbling up to the surface. _If only they knew,_ I clenched my delicate jaw. But I knew that my skills were pretty rusty after so many years of not using them, so I didn’t feel like it was my place to be angry at Soren’s little comment. Of course I wasn’t ready to be fighting someone as strong as the general and his snobby sidekick.

“Remember,” Ranulf spoke up, noticing my discomfort. “This isn’t about winning or losing. We’re doing this so both of us are ready for the battle and can work as a team.”

I looked at his heterochromatic orbs for a moment, then took my place by his side, pulling out my weaker tome. I had to at least try. _It’s been a long time. I hope I can do this._

Then, the general drew a shining steel blade, and Soren pulled out...a **wind** tome. My greatest weakness.

_Of **course** he’s a wind mage. Why wouldn’t he be?_ I eyed the green tome nervously.

All of a sudden, a bright blue light engulfed my battle partner, pulling me straight out of my fearful trance. In just seconds, he no longer took the form of a human. He was a full on beast on all fours, almost double his original size, and completely covered in sky blue fur. His fully extended claws looked like miniature daggers. “Let’s show ‘em what we can do,” Ranulf snarled, baring his razor sharp fangs.

I stared at him, then at the two standing across from us, suddenly feeling a trace amount of confidence appear within me. But only a trace. Once Ranulf leapt toward the general, I was immediately back to being a mess, not knowing what to do. _Jeez they’re really throwing me into the deep end here,_ I thought. When I was a Master, I never really had teammates per se, everyone just fought independently in close proximity, or sometimes synergized spells. But since Ranulf didn’t use magic and was already long gone, I resigned to fending for myself.

But then I watched Soren, and he had a completely different technique. He always stuck close behind his partner, following his every move. And any time Ranulf tried to attack him, General Ike was quick to block his attempts. They made it look so easy and efficient.

Suddenly, as if he knew how distracted I was, Soren focused his death glare on my vulnerable figure and raised his arm. 

_Oh shoot._ I had to act fast if I wanted to avoid getting obliterated by his wind spell, so without even thinking, I summoned a single stony spike between him and General Ike. The mage’s gust violently collided with the spike, creating a miniature sandstorm over the whole plateau. All three of the other fighters looked at me in awe, with Ranulf seeming particularly pleased.

But I didn’t even get to celebrate my minor victory, because not even seconds later, the general himself came rushing in toward me. _Oh god._ I tried obstructing his path with waves of rocky spikes, but he almost flawlessly dodged my attempts, save for one occasion where a single stone cut his thigh mid jump. But this didn’t even come close to stopping him, as he was already upon me!

Ranulf tried running in to save me, but Soren continued to knock him back with fierce gales.

_Shoot shoot shoot._ I spawned a stone spike directly between me and General Ike, but he swiftly sidestepped and was quick to cut my left bicep. I jumped back in pain and reached up to grab the now stinging wound, looking at General Ike with fear, not knowing what to expect next. He glared at me, and I stared back at him, for five, painfully long, wordless seconds.

“Stay close to your partner,” the boy commanded, then jumped away back to Soren.

The rest of the training session continued on in very much the same way, with me constantly messing up dodges and occasionally, **maybe** landing **an** attack. By the end of it, I was left with a brilliant collection of minor cuts and bruises that tainted my pale flesh, serving as an excellent reminder of just how much skill I had lost over the years. _I swear I’m better than this._

We rejoined in the center of the plateau, and I just knew that General Ike had some ‘constructive criticism’ for me. “Good work,” he told me.

_There’s going to be a but…_

“You managed to land a few strong hits on us.”

_Where’s the but?_

“And I can tell you have interesting strategies.”

_Ugh I can feel it coming, just say the word dammit._

“But…”

_There we freaking go._

“I noticed you didn’t exactly work with Ranulf, you just sort of fought on your own. In the battles we’ve been fighting, that won’t work for you,” General Ike said sternly. “Stay by him, he’ll help protect you from nearby enemies.” He handed over some vulneraries for my wounds. “But overall, I think you’ll do fine on the battlefield.”

I looked at him in shock, nearly choking on the medicine. “Wait. Really?” I couldn’t believe my ears. It was almost like telling an infant that it was ready for the 100 meter dash.

But the boy was genuine, and he smiled warmly at me. “We’re not the easiest opponents around, but you still did relatively well. Just keep practicing.”

Suddenly, a group of Crimean soldiers ran up to join us on the plateau. “General Ike!” one of them said, standing at attention. “Bandits have been spotted lurking around the camp, sir!”

Upon hearing the news, the blue haired boy’s smile quickly turned into a scowl. “What are they doing there?” he growled.

“We...we don’t know, sir. They aren’t attacking. They’re just...sitting around the trail. Like they’re waiting for something,” the soldier said.

General Ike and Ranulf eyed me worriedly, but Soren gave me a particularly dirty look that I could feel bore deep into my soul, even though I was looking far far away from him.

_They must be waiting for me._ I turned away.

“Thank you for telling me this,” the general said, dismissing the band of soldiers. “Serena. Stay close to us. Soren, work with me here.”

The black haired mage slightly softened his expression upon General Ike’s command and nodded obediently, reluctantly positioning himself next to me. Ranulf stood by my other side, and the general stayed behind me as we walked back to camp. The entire way back, all of us were on guard, obsessively checking our surroundings for any trace of the bandits. We were told they were around the trail, but by the time we reached the field of tents, we had seen nothing.

“Well that was weird,” Ranulf said. “What happened to them?”

“I wish I knew,” General Ike responded. He checked in with his soldiers later and they informed him that the bandits apparently ran off somewhere quite a while before we got back.

We were never able to figure out where they went off to, which left me with an extremely unsettling feeling.

I made sure to relocate my tent extra close to Ranulf’s later that evening so I could have at least _some_ peace of mind, but that wasn’t even enough. Because in the middle of the night, I awoke quite suddenly with a pounding headache, and I was drenched in sweat. I couldn’t shake the uncomfortable feeling from earlier in the day, either. It felt like someone, somewhere was watching me.

I righted myself, grabbed my tomes, and parted the tent flaps just enough so I could see outside. Nobody was there, and everything was perfectly still, but my fear didn’t subside.

Sticking my head a little further out of my tent, I looked both ways before making a daring sprint to Ranulf’s quarters. “Ranulf!” I whispered. “Ranulf, wake up!” I continued looking around frantically to make sure nobody else was approaching.

Then, I heard some shifting from inside the cat’s tent. “I’m already up,” he crawled outside, and his tail was abnormally bushy. “You feel it too, right?”

_So it isn’t just me, then._ “Yeah, this can’t be a coincidence,” I sighed, feeling slightly better to have some company.

“Let’s go tell Ike,” Ranulf suggested in a serious tone.

The cat stayed close behind me on our short journey to the general’s abode. He was still asleep when we got there, but thankfully, he was quick to rouse. When he stepped out of his tent, though, his hair looked quite a lot messier than usual, as if a tornado had styled it.

“What’s going on?” General Ike asked, rubbing his tired eyes.

“We’re not sure,” Ranulf replied. “I woke up randomly and something felt off. I thought it was nothing, but then Serena came over to me not long after and said the same thing.”

The general looked concerned, but more confused than anything. “What felt off?”

I decided to chime in. “I felt like someone was watching me, and I don’t think it was an ally.”

“That’s...strange,” the boy replied. “No enemies should’ve been able to sneak in. We have night guards on duty everywhere.”

“Maybe we should search the place, just to be safe,” Ranulf suggested nervously, grasping his puffed up tail with his clammy hands.

General Ike looked between me and Ranulf, then finally said, “Alright.” He quickly retrieved one of his swords and joined us on our search around camp.

We thoroughly combed through almost the entire area and questioned many of the night guards we came across, but by the end, we somehow came up completely dry. The only other people we encountered were those night guards, and none of them had seen anything.

But just when we were about to call it a night and head back to our tents, Ranulf and I heard the soft sound of quick, light footsteps somewhere behind us, causing us to freeze in our tracks. We twisted around and caught a glimpse of a shadow ducking behind a nearby tent. The slight glimmer of a sword accompanied the mysterious figure.

I gasped.

Ranulf tapped my shoulder. “Did you see that?” he said.

I nodded stiffly, feeling goosebumps climb up my frail body.

“What happened?” General Ike asked, turning around to join us.

“Someone’s behind that tent!” Ranulf whispered, and we all dashed to the spot where we saw the shadow.

However, when we checked the scene, there was nothing there. No person, no shadow, no sword, no nothing. _I swear it was right there._

“Are you sure you saw something, Ranulf?” General Ike asked suspiciously.

“I saw it too,” I said.

The general sighed. “Listen, I have a lot to do tomorrow, and I need to be well rested. But tell you what. I’ll appoint more night guards to the area, ok?” he blinked tiredly. “We can’t be chasing shadows all night.”

Ranulf and I obliged, knowing that there wasn’t much else we could do for the time being. But our feelings of fear never quite dissipated. I couldn’t sleep for the entire rest of that night, and nor could Ranulf. Yet, nothing really remarkable happened other than the strange sighting, so we couldn’t be sure if it was all in our heads, or if there truly was something more sinister lurking in the shadows that we weren’t aware of.

But one thing was for certain, I wasn’t going to go _any_ where by myself until this was all figured out.


	10. Battlefield Debut

At long last, it was the morning of the battle. I was woken up rather abruptly by the loud chatter outside, the people quickly shuffling about, and the clatter of metallic weapons and armor. My eyes stung from a lack of sleep and I tried to close them, but Ranulf had positioned himself right beside my tent and started shouting.

“Hey! Let's goooo you got a big day today. We’re leaving now!”

My eyes shot open. _Oh shoot!_ I sprung out of my sleeping bag and threw on my robes in the blink of an eye, my heart pumping at a million miles per hour. “What?!” I shouted as I charged out of my tent, expecting to see everyone staring at me. But when I took a careful look around, I saw that most people were still just waking up and exiting their tents, in a much calmer manner than I had. “Ranulf! Does...this...look like anybody’s leaving yet?” I growled, gesturing to the entire camp while glaring at the cat with bloodshot eyes.

“Yeesh. Someone’s not a morning person. Well, anyway, you need time to eat, yeah? Don't want to fight on an empty stomach or you’ll be as reckless as most laguz!” He grinned cheekily, nudging me with his elbow. “Come on, let's go grab something to eat. We’re gonna be fighting together!”

“Poor me,” I groaned.

“Hey!”

After a little while, most people had already taken apart their tents and assembled in an orderly fashion facing the mountain range’s exit. I was quick to follow, so I met back up with Ranulf near the front of the group where armor clad individuals were everywhere! I’ll admit, I was pretty intimidated because they all looked so big and strong, and besides Ranulf, I was one of the only fighters without armor. So naturally, I felt very out of place with my flimsy robes. I mean, by comparison, I was practically naked! _Why don’t I get armor?_

But I barely had any time to gather my thoughts before we started to march forward, and once we were well on our way to the battlefield, the fact that I was about to fight again for the first time since I was a Master finally sank in. There would be bloodshed, noise, chaos. “I could die today,” I whispered to myself, clutching my cold, frail arm.

Ranulf twitched one of his ears. His sensitive hearing had picked up on my little pessimistic comment and he shot me a concerned glance. “Remember, we practiced for this,” he tried reassuring me.

It was a good attempt, but it didn’t help as much as he probably hoped, because once we cleared the mountains and spotted the fort in the distance, my fears skyrocketed. Every step through the wide and gloomy fields beyond that point was an enormous chore, as all I could think about was doom and gloom.

Then, General Ike stopped walking out of nowhere. We were still ways away from the fort, so I was a little bit confused, but it was soon apparent that he was simply selecting the crowd who would be fighting along with him.

Half of me didn’t expect, or even _want_ him to reach Ranulf and I, even though the rest of me knew there was no way out of it.

Before long, he locked his blue eyes with the two of us and gestured for us to follow his lead. And so, we continued on, closer to the more important people than ever before.

“Ike...” Titania, who was to the general’s right, started to speak in a frantic, yet hushed tone as the packed battlefield came into sight. “I think they outnumber us this time, from the looks of it. We miscalculated. Badly.”

_Great. Now I’m sure to die._

Soren, to the general’s left, raised his arm and chimed in. “Titania is right, Ike. And what we’re seeing now is probably only half of their total numbers. We can expect many more to be hidden within the fort.”

_Not helping my nerves at all, Soren. Please shut up, please shut up._

“I don’t care what their numbers are,” General Ike hissed. “We’re not backing down.”

_Sound strategy, General. I just hope that you and everyone else can massacre the lot of them before I’m surrounded._

Suddenly, we stopped again.

The gray fort which was once just a tiny grain in the distance had become a towering menace guarded by exactly what the general had predicted nights ago. Tons of dragonlords glaring down at us, paladins mounting their horses, mages opening their tomes, and I never felt more unprepared or nervous for something in my entire life.

And way in the back of it all was a strange paladin, completely coated in deep black armor that almost appeared to glow. He stared ahead in silence, seemingly dead inside, like surviving or dying in this battle mattered no more than whether or not there was a bird on top of the fort.

Soren kept close by General Ike’s side, clutching his wind tome tightly.

The general faced him. “Soren, who’s that in the back?”

“Ah, I’ve read about him,” the mage said. “He is none other than Bertram, one of Daein’s Four Riders.”

“The Four Riders? So does that mean he’s as strong as General Petrine?” General Ike asked.

_General Petrine? Ha! Sounds a whole lot like a latrine. A toilet general._ I snickered to myself, trying my best not to think of my impending doom.

Soren shook his head and sealed his ruby eyes. “Well, we can’t be sure. The title of Four Riders is given to the king’s four strongest men, meaning this one could be even stronger.”

I whispered to Ranulf. “Uhhh it seems like they’re talking about real important person stuff. Maybe we shouldn’t be near them right now?”

“Nonsense,” his cat food scented breath tickled my ear. “We’re important people, too. And it’s not top secret information, dummy,” he chortled.

Upon hearing our brief exchange, General Ike quickly glanced back at us. But his attention was quickly captured by Titania, who made an addition to their more serious discussion.

“So, then, with Petrine defeated, who are the current four?”

Soren jumped at the chance to explain. “Well, interestingly, there are only three we’ve identified. One of the four was General Petrine, like Ike mentioned, but ever since her defeat, we have yet to find out who she was replaced with.” He placed his pale hand on his narrow chin, looking deep in thought.

“Has she even _been_ replaced?” General Ike asked.

“I believe so,” Soren replied. “Rumor has it, they’ve selected one of the king’s finest men, but he arrived after Petrine had already been appointed, so her defeat would have allowed him to take her place. That’s all we know so far,” he informed everyone.

“No name?” The general continued to probe.

Soren shook his head and repeated the boy’s words. “No name. No location either. As of now, his identity is hidden among the shadows.”

“Hmph.” General Ike huffed, crossing his arms. “I guess we’ll find that out eventually.”

_Jeez, that sounds spooky._

“Anyway, as I was saying,” Soren continued, “one of the three is General Bertram, the man in charge of the army we face today. Then, General Bryce. And finally...the Black Knight.”

Upon mention of the last name, the air grew tense, and the general’s face seemed to flash between anger and anguish. He stood gazing blankly at the ground, his left eye twitching ever so slightly.

_Damn what’s all that about?_

Titania hesitated. “The Black Knight…” she repeated Soren’s words as her expression hardened. “Commander Greil’s killer.” She turned and glanced worriedly at General Ike.

Soren nodded solemnly and turned to General Ike as well.

But the general said nothing to either of them. He just remained eerily silent, masking a violent swirl of emotions.

Noticing his discomfort, Titania quickly changed the subject. “No time to dwell on that right now. Soren, what can we expect from the general we’re up against today?”

Soren shook his head. “I haven’t gathered enough data. He’s only appeared within the last year and has since become one of Ashnard’s strongest men,” he informed. “Some have even said he’s isn’t even a man, but a mere ghost. A shadow.”

_A shadow._ I took another look at the opposing general’s helm, and it felt as though something had struck my head and muffled my hearing. Something about him wasn’t right. But unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to think about it because General Ike suddenly snapped back to life.

“It doesn’t matter what he is, we’re not going to let him stand in our way!” he growled, tightening his fist around the hilt of his sword. “Now, it’s time to fight!” He raised his blade and marched onwards, signaling the rest of us to charge behind him and into the chaos of war.

_Oh goddess, I’m not ready!_

Once the first crash of metal pierced the air, there was no turning back. The battle was underway.

Ranulf, snapping me out of my distracted state, flashed a bright blue, transforming into his beast form. “Come on, Serena. We can do this,” he growled, leaping forward as I rushed to follow, scared for my life.

_Shoot, we’re on the front line. Why am I here again?!_ I started to sweat, spotting two swordmasters already rushing in toward us.

Ranulf roared, lifting up his massive blue paw and dug his claws into one of their throats, tearing it open. The unlucky soul’s last breath sounded like a watery gurgle through the massive amount of dark red blood softening the ground beneath him.

I recoiled at the sound, but I hadn’t the time to stop and stare (or wretch at the scene), as the other swordmaster was already upon us. He was whimpering in both fear and anger, yelling out, “subhuman! Subhuman! Subhuman! Raaaaah!” And he charged toward Ranulf with his sword high above his head, seeking to avenge his fallen comrade.

But Ranulf was too quick for him, and he sprang up behind the man, chomping down on his neck with enough force to decapitate him.

The man’s head, followed by the rest of him, fell with a thud.

“Serena, get your kill on! There’s too many enemies here to stand around idly! Remember, they don’t know what’s coming!” Ranulf shouted.

Right! I had to actually fight! I looked at the cat and nodded, then glanced down at my Jörð tome, shakily opening it. My mind scrambled. _Just read the spell. Just read it and cast it!_ I glanced up and spotted a cluster of enemies in the distance. _Now’s my chance!_ I instinctively aimed my hand at them and with a flick of my wrist, about 6 or 7 of them were lacerated and thrown into the air by giant stone spikes. But with an attack that strong came the immediate sense of exhaustion that hit me like a beast laguz, and I realized that I would never be able to stay consistent through the whole battle. So, much to my chagrin, I decided I would have to restrict the power of each attack to just one measly blade of rock.

“Attagirl! Keep it—” Ranulf crushed a paladin’s spear in his jaws while throwing the enemy off the horse. “Keep it up!” He licked the splinters from between his fangs and pounced on an unsuspecting laguz-axe wielder.

_No time to lose focus!_ I reminded myself. There were quick footsteps approaching my rear, so I whipped around, coming face to face with a knob-head of a sword user. He was readying an attack with an oversized silver sword that was clearly too heavy for him. Deciding to end his pitiful struggle, I landed a spike right through his core, and I smirked as he fell dead to the ground.

Then, shouts from two of our allies caught my attention. There was another group of enemies in the distance, targeting the two soldiers. I just had to save them, but I was so focused on landing a perfectly placed spike that I failed to notice anything else around me until a sharp, steel axe had already lodged itself deep into my side, just above the top of my pelvis. And ohhhh sweet goddess the pain. The pain! The PAIN! It was so bad, I couldn’t even manage a scream until my attacker yanked the axe out of me with a sickening squelch.

My ear shattering shriek caught the attention of my blue-furred partner, who looked over at me and the man with the axe in complete horror. But his mouth was full with a precariously placed sword, and one wrong move would have left him dead.

“Don’t...don’t worry about it, Ranulf!” I winced, feeling rage build within me. I mean, how dare somebody do that to me! Grunting, I channeled almost all of my remaining strength into a double spiked fury hoping to impale my opponent, but he somehow managed to dodge the brunt of the attack.

“What...what _are_ you?!” he shouted at me, preparing to strike again with the axe covered in _my_ blood!

“I’m...your end!” I summoned another jagged spike from the ground despite the immense pain, and this time, it silenced him for good. His axe fell out of his hand with a heavy clang, reflecting a bit of sunlight that shined through a gap in the dull gray and white clouds.

But the glare from the axe quickly blinked out of existence upon the appearance of a massive shadow from above. It wasn’t a cloud. Clouds didn’t make the sound of giant wingbeats.

I looked up, and high in the sky was a wicked looking wyvern rider, grinning at me with crooked and abnormally pointy teeth.

“Ranulf! Wyvern!”

He heard my call and bounded in my direction, but two paladins quickly intercepted his path. “Oh no you don’t, catboy!” one of them taunted.

_No!_

Ranulf roared in frustration.

_Uh oh. Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh!_ I couldn't risk attacking the paladins out of fear that I would accidentally hit Ranulf, and I couldn’t defend myself from the wyvern rider on my own! I had to find another ally. Fast. Frantically, I looked around in hopes of finding one, and...there I saw it. A person in deep green robes with a matching cape a few hundred meters away. He looked different than the other enemies, so I figured he must have been on our side, no question! So, I quickly hobbled over to him.

“Oh, don’t run, little earth girl. The fun has just begun!” the large man atop the wyvern yelled from above.

_Hang on. What did he just call me?_

With a fierce roar from his wyvern, he swooped down, jabbing at me with his spear.

I ducked for cover mere seconds before what could have been a fatal collision, allowing the scaly beast to pass right over me, just inches above my head. The force from its wings caused dust to swirl around me, blurring my surroundings and stinging my eyes. But I pulled through and dragged myself over to the mage. He was my only hope.

I locked my brown, pleading eyes with his, but his gaze lacked the sympathy I so desired. Instead, he gasped and stared at me in fright, flipping to a page in his book. His voice shook.

“That wyvern rider is after me, please, help!” I clutched my side, feeling warm liquid spread out across the fabric of my robes.

The mage kept his bulging, hazel eyes locked with mine, slowly raising his hand as he muttered a vicious chant.

“Wait! No!” I shouted, backing away.

But I wasn’t fast enough. A powerful wind spell blasted out of his palms directly at my heart, and my life flashed before my widened eyes.

_Move. Move! MOVE!!_ A voice inside me yelled. And with a painful leap to the left, the gale missed my heart. I was in the clear...except, I wasn’t. In a green explosion, I was launched backwards, feeling an even worse pain than ever before radiate through my entire body. The gale had hit my axe wound and shredded the right sleeve of my robes, deeply cutting the flesh that bore my brand. I held back stinging tears of agony as I skidded on the dirt, seeing the world spin around me. But...amazingly, after all that, I was still conscious.

Through my blurred vision, I caught sight of the wind mage readying another one of his spells. “No! No you don’t!” My voice wavered while I held my side and choked down salty tears. His incessant chants, finally silenced with a flick of my wrist. Sweet relief, I thought. But of course, in the middle of a battle, there is no such thing as relief.

The wyvern rider had returned, and he was laughing like a demon. “Nowhere left to run, now!” he cackled, diving down toward me with his spear glinting in the sunlight.

I gasped. There was a streak of blue fur charging in from behind him. _Ranulf!_

He leapt up into the air, aiming his dagger-like claws at the rider, but dragon man whipped around faster than expected and stabbed Ranulf in his left shoulder mid-leap, knocking him onto his back. “And you subhumans, you uncivilized beasts should stay slaves to the beorc!”

Oh no he didn’t.

In a flash, I summoned a rock spike. Not at the man, but some ways off to his side, attracting the attention of the awful man.

“I dare you to try that again, girl,” he sneered. “Watch what’ll happen.”

“Oh I don’t need to. You fell right into my trap, dumbass,” I stifled my laughter, tears trickling down my face.

Ranulf had quickly righted himself, and he jumped at the opportunity to attack the man’s throat. Success!

The stupid rider lifelessly plummeted off his dragon, and the mount took that as the perfect opportunity to fly away into the gloomy skies, never to return to the hellish battlefield again.

Ranulf grinned and wagged his thick tail. “Good work, kiddo.” But then, the blue light from earlier surrounded him, and he was once again a humanoid. “Aww crap.”

“You...how’re you gonna fight now?!”

“Well, I’m not. You’ll have to cover me for a bit, but...you’re not looking too good,” he frowned, eyeing my wounds.

“It’s...it’s just a scratch. I’m...I’m fine,” I grunted, clutching my side with my unexposed arm.

“Really? ‘Cause that doesn’t look fine to me.”

“Well, I...I haven’t fainted yet. So, I’ll keep going,” I smiled weakly, lifting up my bloodied arm to kill a paladin rushing in from the side. “I’m mad as hell so maybe that’s what’s keeping me on my feet.”

“Really? That doesn’t look mad to me,” Ranulf laughed.

I huffed painfully, but it was impossible to keep a straight face.

In the meantime, our side was slowly advancing toward the fort. Bodies from both sides littered the battlefield behind us, even those of horses and wyverns. The strongest fighters (aka our very own general, who was somehow completely unscathed, and a few others) eventually confronted the idle being guarding the fort. The strange shadow-like thing that had just watched the battle from afar: General Bertram.

Ranulf, supporting my side, helped lead me toward them so we could see what was going on, but it became harder for me to focus the closer we got.

The man was hissing. Literally hissing like a snake. “Perisssssssshhhhhhh.”

“Me? Perish? Sorry, you’ll have to try harder than that,” General Ike said calmly, dismissing the strange behavior.

“...Me… Kill…”

The boy looked confused. “What?”

The bizarre rider seemed to be going berserk as he choked out his words. “Kill...me…KILL...ME…”

I listened in horror. _What the hell happened to him?!_

“Are...are you mad?” General Ike raised his sword, still appearing calm.

“rr...rrRRRAAAAHHH!” Bertram fell into a seemingly uncontrollable rage, flailing his arms and weapon in the air.

“Ah!” Our general screamed in shock, but only for a moment.

Soren was quick to jump in and bombard the maniacal horseman with a flurry of wind spells, injuring him badly enough for General Ike to finish him off with a single blow from his mighty blade.

And before collapsing off his horse, Bertram let one final, disturbing hiss escape his shadowy being. “Ahhh, AAHH! Re...re...releasssse.” Then, he fell and became no more than a pile of dark, cracked armor and limp limbs.

Hesitantly, Ranulf shook my shoulder. “Hey, what’s the matter?” His warm palm felt comforting enough, so I looked up at him with bleary, glazed over eyes.

“Something...didn’t seem right,” I sobbed quietly. “That wasn’t normal, Ranulf, did you hear him?”

The cat stayed silent for a few seconds. “I know. We can talk about this later, if you want,” he said in a soothing tone while he patted my back.

“Sir, the enemy is retreating. What do we do?” A random soldier asked nearby, awaiting General Ike’s commands.

_No more. Please, no more._

“Let them run,” the general said. “As for us, we’re going to occupy the fort and take a break.”

_Thank the goddess._

“Looks like we get a roof over our heads today,” Ranulf pointed out to me. “Oh and uh...you should probably get your wounds checked out. Now!” He pushed my tired, bleeding body along into the fort once the crowd had diminished, and peeked into some of the rooms. When we reached a rather large one to the left of the main entrance, he hurriedly pulled me inside.

There were numerous white beds spaced out along the walls, and standing next to the rightmost one was a young, colorfully dressed girl with short brown hair who was holding up a staff to a bloodied soldier. A healer. Unfortunately for us, though, there were tons and tons of wounded soldiers in front of us lining up to get to her. But somehow, and thank the goddess for him, Ranulf was able to pull some strings and cut the line.

“Hey Mist, we’ve got ourselves an injured,” the cat boy said, tapping on her dainty shoulder.

She turned to both of us with kind, turquoise eyes. “Oh! Hi, Ranulf!” Then Mist eyed me. “What’s your name?”

“This here’s Serena,” the cat man said, not even giving me a chance to speak.

“Serena, hi! I’m Mist! Um...just lie down on that bed and I’ll tend to your wounds in a second. Yours may take some time, but don’t worry! You’ll be all fixed up!” She inspected Ranulf’s shoulder and held her staff up to it while I stiffly positioned myself on the bed by the wall, still oozing blood. “There you go, Ranulf!”

He flexed his arm and grinned. “Ah! I feel like I can do anything!”

Suddenly, General Ike came through the door and quickly scanned the room, making a beeline for Soren who I just noticed was resting on a different bed.

Mist turned to look at him, then looked back at me. “Hold on for juuuust a second,” she beamed, prancing over to the both of them.

“God this hurts,” I groaned, turning to my left side to keep blood off the sheets. I couldn’t stop thinking about how disturbing the whole Bertram scene was, the way he just seemed like a shell of a person crying out, fighting in favor of his own death. And—

“Hey! You’ve got company.” Ranulf interrupted my thoughts, snapping his fingers.

Mist had already returned, clutching her staff. “Hi Serena! Do you have any injuries other than the ones on your right arm and side?”

“N-no,” I grimaced, twisting my neck to look at her.

“Ok. Just stay like that for me,” her staff glowed a soft green, lightly illuminating my face and side.

_This feels so familiar_ , I thought, staring at her oceanic eyes.

“Wow. What happened?” She sucked in her breath.

“I got cut by an axe then hit by a wind spell in the same spot.”

“Yikes. They did quite a number on you, it seems. Just sit tight for another minute or so, and you’ll be all better.” The intense pain slowly dulled until I almost couldn’t feel it. “Awesome! Try sitting up,” Mist instructed after thoroughly scrubbing away all the blood from my side with a wet cloth.

I did as I was told, and I was amazed when I could actually move without feeling like death.

But just then, the general came over to us, immediately locking his eyes onto my injured arm. “Serena...wow. That wound of yours looks bad.”

“Hi, brother! You actually missed the worst of it,” Mist spoke gently as she held my forearm up to her staff.

_Did she just say...brother?_ I thought as I watched my blistered wound close up under the warm light. _Oh shoot, my brand._ I became petrified with fear as Mist reached for a clean washcloth.

“How did she do in battle, Ranulf?”

The cat smiled. “Ooh she was awesome! She was all like...kablooie! Dead. Fwoom! Another one dead! It was epic. And the way she distracted a wyvern rider with her moves so I could sneak in and attack was brilliant!”

_Complete lies. I wouldn't be in this position if I really did that well._

“Glad to hear it,” he said rather inattentively, focusing most of his attention on my freshly cleaned arm which I shamefully tried hiding.

Soren, for whatever reason, had been looking over at me from his bed, too.

“Hey, what’s that on your arm?” The general asked.

_Shoot._ My face flushed. “This? Oh it’s...just a birthmark.” I looked down at the cold, stoney floor, crossing my arms.

Soren got up off his bed and skulked out the door.

“Hm. Well, rest easy today. Maybe I’ll see you around,” General Ike eyed my face suspiciously, then left the room in a hurry.

_Oh no, that was odd. He probably hates my guts now because he saw my brand! Maybe that’s why he walked off like that!_

“Oh, brother. He’s so weird,” Mist laughed. “Anyway, nice meeting you!”

Ranulf escorted me out of the room and into the halls of the fort, where we began walking aimlessly and admiring the old architecture.

I thought it would be calming, but after many minutes of being unable to quell my worries, I popped a question that I had been asking myself ever since we left that room. “Where did the general go off to in such a hurry?”

Ranulf gave me a funny look. “There have been reports of strange activity going on lately. He’s probably off handling that.”

“What strange activity?”

The cat stopped in his tracks. “You mean you don’t know? Man, you’re really out of the loop, aren’t you.”

I crossed my arms. “Hey, I’m not exactly a central part of this army like you are, you know.”

Ranulf sighed. “Alright then, I’ll fill you in on this.”

Apparently, ever since the night Ranulf and I saw the shadowy figure, more people had been reporting similar instances all around camp. Some said there was a person coated in dark armor that seemed to disappear almost as fast as it appeared, like a ghost or some kind of demon. Others said it was something moving at blinding speeds and was a master at hiding. The reports sounded pretty inconsistent, but it was definitely bizarre.

“What’s the point of just sneaking around though?” I asked.

Ranulf sighed again, pausing heavily before he looked at me square in the eye. “Chances are, there’s a spy.”

I flinched when I heard the word ‘spy’. “I hope people don’t think I have anything to do with it.”

Ranulf grimaced and sucked in his breath.

_Uh oh._

He hesitantly informed me that a lot more people had noticed my presence than I thought, and that I matched some of the reports of the strange entity. I had the shadowy robes (not armor though), I used to sneak around at night, and barely anyone knew me. Of course people would think it was me.

And on top of all of that, Soren had been continuing to push the same conclusion, badmouthing me to the general and his crew, saying things like how I was just pretending to be feeble and innocent just so I could get an in with all the important people.

Ranulf assured me that the mage had no idea what he was talking about, but it still worried me deeply.

“Today has been too much for me,” I said, not wanting to listen to any more of it. “I need a nap. Any idea where we’re supposed to sleep?” I asked.

“Well, there are a bunch of rooms so I think we can just crash in any of them.” Ranulf browsed the rooms until we reached a relatively small one at the end of the major hall. “Hey, this one looks nice.”

It had a nice big window to the side, allowing pale daylight to pour in and softly illuminate the stone floor and walls, and the ceiling was slanted toward the doorway, giving the whole room a cozy feel to it. Blinking my weary, troubled eyes, I said, “this is perfect.” Good enough to sleep my worries away, at least.

“I guess I’ll catch you later, alligator,” Ranulf rubbed my hair roughly and sprinted away, laughing.


	11. Startling Connections

“Are you seriously still sleeping in there?” Ranulf yelled.

It was the evening on the same day as my first battle. The window in my room was letting in a bright, orange light from the setting sun, which meant that I had ‘napped’ for a good three or more hours.

“Wake up right now, there isn’t much time!” He sounded frantic.

“Hold on!” I immediately righted myself and threw on my torn robes backwards to keep my brand obscured. Then, I clumsily ran to the door, somehow managing to trip over nothing a few feet before finally opening it. “What’s going on?” I asked, nervously scanning the cat’s smiling face.

“Nothing really, but you can’t sleep all day if you wanna stay nimble!” He grinned widely.

My face dropped. “Stay nimble for what? I’m...nimble enough, thank you.” So nimble, in fact, that I tripped over _nothing_ on the way to the door. “And besides, aren’t you a cat? A cat who sleeps all day?” I teased.

Ranulf shook his head and laughed. “...No! Even cats like me get up and stretch once in a while. C’mon I’ll show you some good ones.” He pushed past me and let himself into the room, raising his arms up in the air while breathing comically loud. “But seriously, it helps with sore muscles after tough battles. Try this.”

He showed me this weird stretch that I didn’t think I could pull off, but it was much easier than it looked. And it felt...amazing! But to my dismay, someone began pounding on the door, interrupting my very brief period of zen.

“Come on innnnn!” Ranulf sang.

The door opened, and my entire being jumped. It was, of **course** , none other than General Ike.

“Hey, Ranulf,” he said. He glanced in my direction as well, but he didn’t even bother addressing me, which was kind of unsettling.

“Oh hey, Ike. How goes it?” Ranulf wobbled a little as he entered a tree pose. “Care to join us?”

The confused general looked back and forth between Ranulf and I, then he finally said, “is this some kind of weird training routine?”

Upon hearing the general’s question, Ranulf froze, then stared at him for a solid ten seconds before dropping his pose and bursting out into a crazed fit of laughter. “Ohhhh that’s a good joke, Ike, you really got me there, you know that?” he cackled, wiping away a tear from the corner of his green eye.

“Um,” General Ike furrowed his brow and eyed my closed-off figure, as if I knew what was happening any better than he did. “What did I say that was funny?”

Ranulf nearly lost it again. “Who do you think I am, Ike? You? Hah! Yeah right. I don’t train, buddy. Especially not as a two-legger.” The cat wagged his tail. “I was just chilling out here, stretching, talking with my favorite girl. You know. To relax and unwind!”

Our general, still dumbfounded, didn’t respond. He just stood there and stared at the two of us.

“Right,” Ranulf said, breaking the silence. “I forgot. You wouldn’t know a thing about relaxing.”

Pffffffff. I stifled my laughter and covered my mouth so the general wouldn’t see me smiling in response to Ranulf’s comment. Though I’m sure he noticed anyway, because my eyes were squinted and my face was very rapidly reddening.

“Well, that’s disappointing,” General Ike said, looking EXTREMELY unamused. “You should teach me your lazy ways.”

_Wait, he’s playing along? This is so unlike him_ , I thought, unable to control my laughter any longer.

“Hey, just ‘cause I’m not swinging some hunk of metal around, doesn’t mean I’m lazy!” Ranulf crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and turned his head away in an effort to look angry. “Quite the opposite actually. I’m exercising my mind. But you wouldn’t know about that either. Dummy.” He opened his green eye to take a peek at our general’s bewildered expression.

_Ranulf!_ I screamed in my head, silently laughing behind my hands. “Well, if he’s a dummy, then I am too because I have no idea what the heck you’re doing, Ranulf.”

The cat opened his other eye in shock and turned to me. “No no no, you’ve got it all wrong, Serena! You’re MY dummy.” He walked closer to me with a playful glint in his eyes and rested his gloved palm on my shoulder. “He’s just a regular dummy.”

_RANULF?!_ I blushed and looked over at our general, who seemed a little more annoyed than usual.

“Hmph. Didn’t realize it was a competition,” General Ike huffed. But then, out of seemingly nowhere, a devilish smirk made its way onto his normally blank face. “So what does that make you, then, Ranulf? The Supreme Dummy Overlord?”

In response, the cat chuckled pompously. “Why, yes! But I shouldn’t be surprised it took you that long to figure out. Only the dumbest of the dumb know the ways of the dumb best.” His smile faded. “Wait…”

“Dumbest of the dumb, eh? Oh, Ranulf. You’ve definitely earned that title,” General Ike chuckled lightly.

Ranulf blinked. He looked at our general, then at me, then back at our general. “Well.” He cleared his throat. “If that’s really what you think of me, oh mighty Commander, I’ll just leave then!” He giggled as he pushed off of me, eagerly making his escape.

Amused, the general and I watched Ranulf bound out of the room, leaving the two of us alone.

_Oh shoot_ , the realization caused butterflies to swarm my stomach. _We’re alone_. I blushed, meeting my general’s still laughing blue eyes.

“Do you...have any idea what that was about?” he asked me.

I giggled and shook my head, turning even more pink than before. “Not a clue!”

He let out one last chuckle before reverting back to his normal, serious self. “Right, well, enough about that. Ranulf said you needed to speak to me about a few concerns you had regarding the last battle so...what’s up?”

_Oh, right_ , I remembered. I had thought that I would be speaking to Ranulf about it all, but I guess it made more sense to tell the general first. “Y-yeah. Um...actually...there are a couple of things,” I hesitated, making my way over to the windowsill to sit down.

“Go ahead,” General Ike said as he took a seat next to me on the ledge.

I sighed, digging through the recent memories of the mess that was the battle. “Ok, you saw General Bertram, right?”

“Mhm,” he nodded.

I told him how I remembered the pain and the strange sensations I got when I looked at Bertram...and that it was almost exactly like how I felt when I looked at the black anklet the bandits had in the woods. It was almost like I could sense whatever strange substance they were using now that I was cured of it, and the fact that I got the same reaction from both objects had to be significant. I mean, it was as much proof as we could possibly have at that point.

“I think you might be right,” General Ike spoke, narrowing his eyes. “No sane person would act the way he did, and no army would hire a truly insane person either. And if it worked on you, surely it would work on other beorc as well. But...you never lost your mind completely, did you?” He turned his head to face me.

“No, I didn’t,” I replied. “Maybe him and those laguz got a higher dose than I did.”

“Damn, this is more complicated than I thought,” General Ike said, frustratingly grabbing some of his hair in his fist. “And like we’ve discussed before, I feel like those bandits and Daein are connected somehow. I just don’t see how else both of them would have that drug.”

“I agree,” I scowled, subconsciously matching his frustration. “But we still don’t have a lead on what that connection would be.” What reason could the Daein army possibly have to associate with lowlife thugs?

General Ike, probably wondering the same thing I was, tightly gripped a portion of his cape in his strong hands and averted his gaze. “I was hesitating to do this, but I’m going to have to talk to the council about this,” he paused. “I’ll make sure to get back to you on it.” Then, he looked back at me and his hands seemed to relax momentarily as he blinked away his anger. “Anything else you wanted to talk about?” he asked calmly.

I tried to gather my extremely disorganized thoughts and brought up the next troubling memory I could think of. “Yes. Another thing I just realized. I think...somehow...the other side vaguely knows who I am and I’m scared,” I grimaced.

In response, General Ike shot me an inquisitive look and tilted his head. “What makes you think they do?” he asked.

“I was fighting this wyvern rider. And...um...he seemed to know my weaknesses. More than that, he didn’t seem surprised at all about my abilities. He confidently referred to me as ‘earth girl’, too.” Nobody had used that name besides bandits.

Immediately after hearing that, the general glared down at his feet, seeming to be thinking about something. “Did anyone else seem attuned to your presence?”

“Not that I...wait,” I remembered the horrific moment I got blasted by the wind spell, and the way my attacker’s eyes bulged as if I were the goddess of the underworld or something.“This mage I fought looked really scared when he saw me even though I wasn’t even attacking him. A few other people acted that way, too. It was so weird.”

“Hmm,” General Ike thought for another moment. “There are a few possibilities I can think of. Either, one, it’s all in your head, two, many people just happen to know about you but you’re unaware of that fact, or three...there’s a spy among us. We’ve been heavily suspecting the last option for a little while now.”

_There’s that word again_ , I thought nervously, gritting my teeth and scraping my stubby nails against the stone of the ledge.

And as if he could read my mind, General Ike spoke up, trying to ease my discomfort. “Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting it’s you,” he said, curling his hands into fists. “But everything you told me suggests that we’re going to have to investigate this even more than we have been. So...thank you for letting me know.” Then, the boy paused and gazed at me intently. “That all?”

I found myself wanting to keep talking to him, so stupid me forgot all about logic and reason for a moment as I blurted: “Who’s this Commander Greil and Black Knight I’ve been hearing about?”

As a visceral reaction, General Ike clenched his jaw and averted his gaze.

_Frick. Definitely shouldn’t have asked that_ , I thought. “I’m...sorry. You don’t have to answer—”

“No. It’s ok,” he curtly interrupted me. “Who told you about them?” There was that anger and anguish again.

“Nobody,” my face flushed. “I...I just heard people mention them...and you seemed troubled when they did. If you need to talk about it…” _Oh no. This seems way too personal, but there’s no forgetting the subject now, Serena. Why? Why are you still probing!?_ I screamed at myself in my head.

He didn’t respond. Instead, he turned to look at me again and stared at me for what seemed like forever, as if searching for something deep within my soul.

The moment I returned his gaze was the most inopportune time for what I felt next, but I honestly can’t say if I could have done much to avoid it. Once my cautious, brown eyes locked with his fierce, blue ones, an intense warmth suddenly flooded my body. It was almost like a dam bursting, inundating my mind with these strange, sappy thoughts I couldn’t control. Starting with his eyes, the very things I couldn’t stop staring at. They were as blue and as clear as a tropical ocean, I could have easily drowned in them if I didn’t shift my focus to his hair. Oh...the way some of it fell over his face...like waves of water crashing on a shore of pale sand...and... _good god, Serena. Get a hold of yourself. For frick’s sake, he’s your commander, and he’s probably with Aimee, what are you doing!?_ I mentally slapped myself, trying to remember the main focus of the conversation. “If...if it makes you feel any better, I’ve...lost people dear to me, too.” I clasped my hands together in a feminine manner.

“H-how did you…” he hopped off the windowsill and stood a short distance away from me, staring at me with remarkably handsome features that were kissed by the low, dramatic light of the sun.

“I...I don’t know,” I struggled to keep a calm composure. “I don’t know anything about those people in your life, but it’s ok if you don’t want to explain. I get it. Really.” _Serena, stop talking please_ , I thought to myself.

I didn’t expect him to want to say anything about it, but to my surprise, his muscles relaxed, he took a heavy sigh, and...he did. “I’ll spare you the details. Long story short, Greil was my father. The Black Knight was the one who killed him not too long ago. But...I’m beginning to come to terms with all of that,” he lowered his gaze.

It was a short answer, but no less heartbreaking than a longer answer would have been.

“Man,” I blinked, unsure of what to say. “I’m sorry to hear that,” was the best response I could think of.

“Don’t be. I’m just thankful for the family I’ve got left.”

Hearing him speak, and watching his emotions flash behind a stone cold expression, I felt my heart sink. “Your...your mother and sister I presume?”

“No,” he said blankly. “Just my sister.”

I brought my hands up to my mouth and furrowed my brow. “Wow. I guess...I guess we’re not so different in terms of our parents, then,” I choked.

Upon hearing my words, my commander stepped a little closer, gazing at me with a slightly softer expression. “How is that?” he asked.

I lifted my eyes, feeling my heart flutter at his apparent attentiveness. Was I really going to spill my past because of a fleeting feeling? “You want the long answer or the short answer?” Apparently so.

“Doesn’t matter to me,” he replied bluntly.

“It’s a little bit of a long story, actually,” I frowned.

“I’m listening.”

_Oh goddess_ , I thought, feeling my chest begin to pound through my brittle ribs. “Ok. Um...it’s probably different than your experience, but here goes. So...my mother. She...she was a very beautiful woman,” I started as I pictured her long, platinum blonde hair and her delicate features. “But when she had me, she lost her...most beautiful feature. Ever since then, my parents’ relationship slowly went downhill.” I stopped for a second to keep my composure in check, because I was just a hair away from completely losing it and running out of that little room. My eyes were glued to the floor, and my breaths grew labored and ragged.

My general, noticing this, interrupted my horribly anxious stupor. “You don’t have to keep going if it’s too much for you,” he said softly as he sat down next to me once more, continuing to watch me worriedly.

Looking at his concerned expression, I could feel myself starting to calm down. I shook my head. “I owe it to you, though.” I had to tell him. I just had to.

“You don’t owe me anything.”

“I feel like I do,” I said impulsively. “I guess...I guess I just want you to feel less alone. You deserve to know.”

In response, General Ike sighed. “If you really want to, then I won’t stop you. Just...don’t tell me anything you’re uncomfortable talking about.”

His voice, calm and comforting, was enough to further soothe my nerves. Just enough for me to continue on with my story, at least, despite how strange and uncomfortable it felt to be so vulnerable. I sighed, unearthing the remaining memories of my long lost mother. “They stopped loving each other and argued so much about meaningless things. Like the fallen sun and the sword or whatever. But my mother got so fed up with her life at home because of all that, she left one day without saying anything. And I never saw her again after that, so I don’t know if she’s still alive or not.”

Sympathy and warmth radiated off of my general. “That’s awful, Serena,” he said.

I finally had the guts to look him in the eye again, and another part of the story rushed back to the forefront of my mind. “You know...she had a friend that I liked who kinda disappeared too. Long before she did.” I smiled at the faded, yet fond memories of her. “She...she had lovely blue hair and eyes, much like yours,” I blushed. “Since my mother was a special healer of sorts, many people looked up to her, including her friend, who decided to follow in her path. Like, they would practice singing the same healing songs and stuff. But one day, she just stopped visiting,” I frowned. “My mother said it was because the woman got busy.”

“What was the friend’s name?”

“I’m not sure. I never really remembered,” I squinted, trying to dig through those old memories, but to no avail.

For some strange reason, the general continued to probe. “What songs would they sing?” he asked, sounding particularly intrigued.

“There were a few. The Galdr of Rebirth was one. I think the Galdr of Release too.”

Upon hearing the titles, General Ike gasped. “It couldn’t be…” he said to himself.

“What? Couldn’t be what?”

“That...that sounds a lot like my mother,” he said solemnly.

“Wait, what?” It only took me a second to realize that it all made sense. That feeling of familiarity, his blue hair and eyes, his sister’s affinity for healing, it must have all come from her! Was it really true?

“My mother learned the Galdr of Release because she worked closely with heron laguz,” he paused. “She was the only beorc to learn it.”

I sat there in silence, trying to take this mind blowing information in. _He’s the son of my mother’s friend. He’s the son of my mother’s friend. He’s..._

“How did your mother know those songs?”

_Oh shoot I’ve already said too much_ , I panicked and looked past his eyes, not knowing what else to say.

“Look. If it’s something you don’t want to tell me, I respect that. I won’t push for an answer. This is just a lot to take in right—”

“My mother was a heron,” I blurted, knowing that someone was going to find out eventually. I figured it may as well have been him.

“What?”

“She was a heron. That’s why. And I bet you already know what that makes me,” I turned away, feeling shame twist my heart and bubble up through my skin.

However, my general didn’t appear to think it was as despicable as I did. He merely tilted his head innocently and asked an equally innocent question. “What does that make you? A heron?”

“No. A branded,” I spat. “You can fire me now if you want.”

“Fire you? But...I don’t know what a branded is.”

Suddenly loud footsteps echoed through the hallway outside the door. Moments later there was authoritative knocking on the door followed by a very smooth, fancy sounding voice. “General Ike! Please come with me. We’re getting ready to have a war council to discuss the upcoming battle.”

Following the commands of the fancy voice, the boy stood up and looked back at me with sympathetic eyes. “Sorry. We’ll have to cut this short. See you.” He headed to the door and reached for the knob.

I could barely see him now, as the sky outside had darkened significantly since the start of our conversation, and there was only a small patch of pale blue light on the opposite wall.

“Um...thank you, sir,” I said shyly, wanting nothing more than to be by myself.

But he stopped himself before exiting the room and spared me one last confused glance. “Just call me Ike from now on,” my commander ordered.

_What?_ I thought, gawking at him from the window in silence.

After that, he left the room and quietly closed the door behind him before I could even think of anything coherent to say.

I stayed sitting there on the windowsill far past sunset, just thinking about everything we talked about, obsessing over every tiny detail in an attempt to process it all. Like the fact that he was the son of my mother’s friend, but I had already thought about that a million times over and still couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Oh, and how could I forget how handsome I was beginning to think my commander was? _Goddamnit_ , I thought as I buried my face into my hands.


	12. Interrogation

About a week passed since the day of my first battle, and to put things simply, things got a little hectic for me at basecamp. Ever since Ranulf informed me that people thought I was the mysterious shadowy figure, I became hyper aware of how people looked at me. Half the people I came across would see me and go out of their way to avoid me, but the other half paid me no mind. And not gonna lie, I sort of wished Gatrie would be one of the ones to start avoiding me, but ever since he heard I’d been talking to Ike more, he was even _more_ insistent on taking me on dates.

On top of that, bandit attacks were becoming a regular occurrence. That week alone, we had to fend off about three groups of hooligans, each seemingly stronger than the last. We had no idea where they were coming from, either, which made it all the more frustrating to deal with.

One afternoon, Ranulf decided to take me out to train and teach me more dodging techniques after seeing what happened to me during my last fight. Unfortunately, we needed a lot more space than our crowded spot had to offer, so we had to leave the safety of camp and go into the fields. The badlands, as we liked to call it.

“Place your bets, Ranulf,” I said somewhat nervously. “When do you think those bandits will rear their ugly heads again?”

“Well,” he placed his hand under his chin as we parked by some old well in the field. “Considering we’ve barely been able to go a day without seeing them, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw some as soon as today. The only question is when.” He looked over both of his shoulders to make damn sure we were alone.

I looked around the flat, drab area along with him, and there was literally nothing for miles except the old well.

_Wait,_ I thought. _The old well_. My eyes locked onto the crumbling little structure.

Picking up on my miniature trance, Ranulf turned to look at it, too. He peered down into its seemingly bottomless depths, squinting his multicolored orbs. “There’s nothing in here, either,” he said, wagging his tail.

I sighed, feeling slightly relieved.

Then, a playful smirk appeared on Ranulf’s face as he pushed himself off the well, “Shall we get to training then, kittycat?” he laughed, allowing radiant blue light to surround his being.

I wasn’t allowed to use my tomes for the dodging exercise he had planned, so in all honesty, I didn’t feel ready at all. In fact, just looking at his claws inflicted me with a sudden feeling of dread. But I wasn’t gonna let him know that, so I just faked a smile and nodded, all the while fearing for my life.

He made the first move and leapt towards me while swinging his massive blue paw at me, but I kid you not, not even a second later, a random guy popped out of the _EMPTY_ well that we had _just_ checked! His sudden appearance caused me to completely blank and freeze up, and my brown eyes widened at the foul man who leapt up into the air, aiming his shining steel axe at Ranulf’s back.

“Hah!” the bandit yelled, causing Ranulf to stop his swing just centimeters before slashing into my raised arms. As soon as his colorful eyes locked with my fearful ones, he whipped around in an instant and dug his claws into the bandit’s guts, slamming him to the ground, axe and all.

Turning away from the gruesome attack, I could hear Ranulf ferociously rip into the man. “You will NOT do ANYthing to her!” he yelled, beside himself with a beastly anger.

But unfortunately for us, the horrendous death of the bandit was just the beginning. The attack signalled the rest of his comrades to come pouring out of the well, like a mass of baby spiders from a crushed egg sac. And within seconds, we were completely surrounded.

Heart pounding, I instinctively sprinted over to Ranulf and hopped onto his back for protection, keeping a deathgrip on his soft blue tufts of fur as he began ripping through our enemies. They clearly underestimated his full power, because almost all of the bandits were eliminated as fast as they had appeared. But it wasn’t until the last bandit was left standing that I suddenly came up with a brilliant, perhaps even crucial idea.

“Wait! Ranulf, don’t kill him!” I yelled, tugging on his fur extra hard.

He was about to sink his fangs into the throat of the cowering bandit on the ground.

“What? Why?” Ranulf whined, thirsting for beorc blood. He rested his heavy paw on the bandit’s chest and turned his head back as much as he could so he could look at me.

“We need to take him back to the general,” I said. “Trust me.” It was our best move if we ever wanted to see what these attacks were all about. Better than just investigating within our own camp, anyway.

Luckily, Ranulf quickly caught on and picked up the hefty bandit by the neck, careful not to puncture his skin. Keeping a steady, quick pace, he dragged the fearstruck hooligan across the barren lands and back to camp, like a lion bringing a fresh kill back to its pride.

But upon our return, we were not greeted by the approving eyes of hungry lions. Instead, we were met with wide eyed stares and terrified allies ducking for cover. But given the task at hand, we paid them no mind and continued on our way to Ike’s room inside the fort.

“Hey I, oowee haa a hre-ent hor eeoo,” Ranulf tried speaking, but his mouth was much too full.

Luckily for us, though, the general was still in his quarters. So when he heard Ranulf’s poor attempt at words, he poked his head out and looked me dead in the eye for only a second before glancing down at his feet. “What in the name of…”

“We captured one of the bandits,” I interrupted. “If there’s something deeper going on between them and Daein, maybe he’ll have the answers.”

Ike blinked, taking another look at me perched upon Ranulf’s back. “Hand him over,” he finally ordered after an awkward silence.

Upon the general’s command, Ranulf released his grip from around the bloke’s thick neck, and the bandit just fell to the ground like a ragdoll. He had apparently passed out at some point, which was understandable. I probably would have done the same thing if some beast was about to snap my neck in its jaws.

Once Ike had the man secured in his arms, I hopped off Ranulf’s back before he reverted to his two-legged form. We followed our commander as he hauled the man’s limp body over to some isolated room, and we sat him down, awaiting the return of his consciousness.

A few minutes after arriving in the room, the bandit slowly opened his droopy eyes, and when he registered the fearsome blue haired general glaring in front of him, they jolted open in shock.

“Gaah! Wh-wheres am I?” the man screamed, looking among the three of us. He seemed particularly drawn to my presence, but his gaze was incredibly shifty.

“Doesn’t matter.” Ike crossed his arms, continuing to stare at the terrified individual.

“Why did you attack us like that?” Ranulf jumped in, angrier than I’ve ever heard him before.

“Oh.” The bandit’s face dropped. “Can’t youz tell, we’re after the earth girl!” He pointed his fat finger at me. “Juz hand her over, and youz won’t have any more trubble.”

Ike intensified his glare and spoke in an even harsher tone than Ranulf. “Why should we do that?”

The bandit averted his gaze. “Juz do it. Is for yer own good,” he mumbled.

“For our own good?” the general replied. “Tell me. How exactly would it help us?”

“Uhhh…” the bandit drooled as he thought of what to say. “We’ll stop comin’ after ya?” A couple beads of sweat dripped from his brow, carrying once-dried blood down the side of his face.

“I don’t like that answer,” Ike scowled. “If I were to kill you now, would that not stop you from coming after us?”

_Damn, harsh_ , I thought. But he had a point. The bandit’s answer was strange indeed, and it sounded like he knew something that we didn’t.

“Well.” The bandit coughed and spat up a bit of phlegm.

_Ew._

“It’ll stop me, but not them others,” he coughed again.

Ranulf’s tail puffed up at the old chap’s response. “What do you mean by...the others?” He growled sinisterly and narrowed his multicolored eyes.

Upon hearing his question, the bandit started to tremble in his place. He opened his mouth and raised a shaky hand as if he was about to say something, but nothing came out. He just sat there in silence, staring at the wall behind us.

“Who sent you?” Ike asked. “Tell me. Now.”

“I said too much already!” The bandit turned away and wheezed. “I…”

“Tell me now!” In a snit, Ike drew one of his swords and pointed the blade at the bandit’s face, keeping the tip mere millimeters away from the man’s nose.

“Aaah!” he screamed. “I can’t! I sworn on mine life not ta tell! He’ll kill me!” Genuine fear filled his eyes as he focused on the sharp metal point in front of him.

_**He** will? So there **is** someone behind this!_ I gritted my teeth and stared at the bandit intensely, awaiting further interrogation. _Wait..._

“Tell me his name!” Ike growled as he lightly prodded the man’s nose with his sword.

“I can’t!” the bandit cried once more. “I sworn ta him! He...he kill me!” he said again, sweat pouring out of every orifice.

“Well if you keep this up, you’re going to die either way,” our commander hissed. “So the choice is yours. Tell me and die by his hand or mine.”

Either option sounded equally as bad, so I sprang up and whispered to Ike, suggesting that he give the man at least _some_ incentive to tell us his secrets.

He nodded in agreement. “Alright, how about this?” His voice calmed, and he lowered his sword slightly. “Tell us, and we’ll keep you out of harm’s way. If you don’t, you perish where you are now.”

The bandit shook his head and grimaced, madness still in his eyes. “Never! Nobody can stop him!” Then, his breathing quickly grew ragged and sick sounding, and he just kept repeating some variation of “no” over and over again, no matter what any of us said. It was as if he suddenly went insane. Eventually, Ike got fed up with the nonsense (as did I and Ranulf), and he put an end to the bandit’s ceaseless tantrum with a blade through his chest.

“Ranulf, would you mind taking him away?” Ike asked, slowly calming down from his bout of rage.

The cat nodded, obediently lugging the bloody corpse out of the room.

Once Ranulf had left, Ike sheathed his sword and wiped away a drop of sweat from his forehead. He looked at me seeming to be much calmer than he had been just a minute ago. “Well, we at least know one thing now,” he said to me. “There’s someone above these bandits.”

It was true, but we already suspected that this was the case. The bigger problem would be finding out _who_ was behind it. “It could be literally anyone though,” I groaned.

“I know. We’ll figure it out,” Ike said, stretching his arms.

All that nonsense had me beat, so I was about to leave and head to my quarters for a quick nap, as I tend to do, but Ike stopped me as I was halfway outside.

“Hey, Serena,” he said suddenly, causing me to turn around. “Are you free right now?”

I hadn’t gotten the chance to speak with him a whole lot since that extraordinarily deep conversation we had because he got extra busy with meetings and stuff. But of course, the one occasion he had time, I was practically falling asleep while standing. As such, I was faced with a very difficult decision.

_Shall I take a nap, or shall I speak with the handsome lad? Methinks the choice is obvious._

So I ended up ignoring the boy and taking a nap.

Just kidding.

“Yeah, I am. Why?” I yawned.

“Good. I was thinking we could just take a quick break,” he said with a blank expression. “Why don’t we get lunch together or something?”

I froze mid-yawn, and my drowsiness magically vanished upon hearing his invitation. “O-oh. That sounds nice,” I smiled coyly, playing with the sleeve of my thick robes. _This is just a friendly meal together with your commander, nothing more. Remember that_ , I thought to myself, trying my best to conceal a blush.

“So, how are you?” he asked as we walked through camp over to a green haired man. I recognized him from the village, but we weren’t acquainted. He appeared to be cooking something in an enormous cauldron.

“Well, I was a bit tired, but...what are we, brewing potions over here?” I gawked at the size of the pot.

The green haired soldier laughed. “No, ma'am. I’m prepping today’s supper.” He stirred the contents of the pot with a huge metal ladle and introduced himself as Oscar, another one of Ike’s comrades from before the war. Thankfully he treated me rather nicely, despite all the shadow bullcrap and bandit invasions.

He served both me and Ike some of the food in our own little metallic bowls. Supposedly, he was an excellent chef, so I was eager to sample some of his cooking, but perhaps I was a little too eager, because I nearly burned my palms as I hastily grabbed the hot bowl from him.

“What’s this?” I asked as Ike and I seated ourselves in a less crowded area of camp. Whatever it was, it looked and smelled absolutely delicious!

“Chicken curry,” he said. “It might be a little spicy, so be careful.”

I giggled. “Careful? But I love spicy food. Especially if it has meat. I grew up eating this all the time!” I drooled at the enticing aroma of the dish.

Ike’s eyes widened at my comment, then he smiled, showing the top row of his pearly whites. “You and I have similar tastes then.” He peered down at his food, still smiling.

Turns out the boy was a bigger fanatic of food than I realized, because I swear, he had the appetite of about five lion laguz. He practically inhaled his entire meal by the time I had eaten only three bites of mine, all without spilling anything on himself! I mean, how is that even possible?

“So do you remember anything of my mother?” Ike asked suddenly after he finished wolfing down his food.

Ignoring his incredible eating speed, I sifted through my crowded mind, trying to access those distant memories of her, but unfortunately they were few and far between. The only ones I could remember were very hazy and uneventful. “Not much, sadly,” I frowned. “But, she did have a beautiful voice, and she was a fantastic healer.”

The boy didn’t say anything, presumably reminiscing about distant memories of his own.

“And, I do remember her talking about her son. Or, I guess I should say you.”

Ike leaned in a bit, seeming eager to hear more.

“She spoke of your adventurous spirit. My mother even wished for us to meet one day, hoping it would enhance my own thirst for adventure. Or something. I kinda forget.”

“Wow,” Ike said. “That’s crazy.”

“Why?”

“My mother once spoke of a child, as well. A girl from some far away land.” He stopped to think for a moment. “I think...she wanted us to meet too.”

“Why didn’t we?”

“I don’t know,” Ike scratched his head. “My mother went away somewhere, so I guess our connection to your family was lost.”

So basically neither of us, not even her own son, knew what happened. How strange.

“Well, I guess this is an extremely delayed meeting then,” I laughed awkwardly, tucking some stray strands of dark hair behind my ears.

“Mhmm,” the general said. “By the way. What did you mean when you said you were branded or whatever?”

My stomach dropped, and I looked at him wide eyes, checking our surroundings to make sure nobody else was within an earshot of us. _I wish he just forgot about it_ , I thought. But...I still felt compelled to tell him. “So...my mother was a heron laguz, but my father was a beorc,” I whispered cautiously.

Ike seemed to pick up on my wish to keep it a secret, so he moved himself closer to me, continuing on in a quieter tone of voice. “So you’re half laguz?” he asked.

“I am,” I frowned, feeling an overwhelming desire to hide all of a sudden. “People call us branded.”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” he said, softening his gaze as he noticed my apparent shift in mood.

I looked at him, surprised. “Yes it is,” I snapped. “People here hate us. We’re...we’re freaks of nature,” my voice shook as I remembered some of the vile things the bandits used to say.

But the general just raised an eyebrow in confusion. He truly didn’t know anything about brandeds or how society had forsaken us, so I had to explain everything to him. And I mean _everything_. I thought for sure he would hate me by the end of it all, but quite the opposite happened. If anything, he seemed even more interested in my brand and my past than before.

“So...that symbol I saw on your arm. That’s your brand?” Ike looked down at the sleeve of my black robes that obscured his view of the symbol.

I nodded and looked away nervously, pushing back my sleeve to reveal the red mark on my forearm, and the boy was absolutely fascinated.

Without even thinking, he gently took my arm in his hand and traced the crimson lines with his thumb.

His touch made me jump a little, but it felt...surprisingly comforting, and my whole body started to heat up.

Ike kept his hand on my brand as he looked back up to meet my gaze, but he didn’t say anything. He just peered deep into my eyes, leaned in a little closer, and sighed.

With each passing second, my face grew progressively warmer and redder. _This feels so wrong. I mean, I kind of like it, but he has a girlfriend, doesn’t he?_ I thought. _Oh my god this feels **really** wrong._ “What?” I asked coldly to break the silence.

“Sorry,” Ike said, quickly removing his hand from my arm and shifting his position.

_That was weird._ I quickly covered up my brand and stared at the ground in an effort to hide my blush. “Please don’t tell anyone,” I said in reference to my race.

“Don’t worry,” Ike replied quietly. “I won’t.”

Just then, fast-paced footsteps drew near. “Ike.” It was Soren. And by his side was Knox the messenger. Both of them looked on edge, as if they had seen a ghost or something.

“I hate to interrupt your little assignation, but there has been another report of the alleged shadow.” The mage’s ruby eyes locked onto me once I twisted around, but he said nothing.

And like magic, my exhaustion returned along with an annoying headache just _thinking_ about the bandits and the stupid shadow.

“This is a highly unusual sighting, too,” Knox chimed in, his silver eyes looking extra intense. “This is the closest we’ve ever got to capturing what it really looks like.”

“Damn,” Ike muttered.

“We need to investigate while it’s still happening,” Soren added sharply.

“You mean it’s happening now?”

Knox and the black haired mage nodded.

Then, in a flash, Ike sprang to his feet. “Serena. If it’s only after you like we’ve been saying, you should come with us too.”

_Great,_ I clutched my head as I stood up, feeling the pain grow stronger.

They essentially wanted to use me as bait since I hadn’t really been anywhere by myself for too long, so this mysterious figure would theoretically jump at the chance to capture me if I was alone. Soren was on board with this idea, of course, but I wasn’t so sure about it. I mean, I could see the logic behind it, but it sounded way too much like a trap for my liking.

Even Knox seemed a little bit on the fence about the whole thing, to the point where he excused himself from the scene, claiming he wanted no part of it.

But despite my ever growing anxiety, Ike somehow managed to convince me to do it. He promised me everything would be ok, and that he and Soren would spring into action when the time was right, so I took his word for it.

Soren then led the two of us to the region of camp where the sightings were happening, and we made sure to act as nonchalant as possible so whatever it was didn’t catch on to our plan. As we approached the scene, slight disorientation began to plague my being on top of the head pains that I already had. I held the side of my head with my palm and winced, feeling an intimidating glare coming from an unknown source.

“It’s somewhere near,” I grunted.

Ike looked at me worriedly. “Just stay put,” he whispered, but then he suddenly started speaking comically loud and I just about lost it. “Yeah, Soren. We should probably get to that meeting now! I heard it’s a long one!” he said, looking off to the side.

Soren smirked. “Certainly, Ike. We haven’t got time to waste!” With that, the two of them ran off somewhere out of sight, leaving me out in the open and alone.

_Alone_ , I trembled at the realization. Feeling my legs start to shake, I crouched on the ground. I looked in every direction, hoping to spot whatever was giving me those strange sensations, but I couldn’t see a thing other than tents and the fort.

_Frick, I’ve been sitting here for like 20 minutes, this is torture_ , I screamed in my head, unable to tolerate my own anxiety any longer.

All of a sudden, a flash of black jumped between two tents from the corner of my eye.

I gasped and looked over in its direction, but somehow, there was nothing there! Hell, I even kept my eyes glued to the spot for like five solid minutes and the shadow never reappeared, yet my pains and anxiety still persisted.

And just when I started to think that my eyes had simply played a cruel trick on me, my headache intensified out of nowhere. My vision started to darken slightly, and a relatively dark, clawed hand covered my mouth from behind, its sharp nails digging into my cheek. _Help! What the frick is this thing?!_ I panicked as its other hand slipped tightly around my torso. Whoever, or whatever that creature was, started to drag me away.

Then, right on cue, Ike and Soren popped out of seemingly nowhere.

“Stop, you monster!” Ike yelled from afar.

Upon hearing his shout, the thing’s grip around me loosened, and I fell backward onto the grass. Soren then seized the opportunity and launched a powerful wind spell that passed right over my head, directly hitting the creature behind me. Hard. It yelped, and there was a thud and heavy breathing.

Once they were sure the thing was incapacitated, Ike and Soren dashed past me to inspect it.

“It’s still alive, Ike. Be careful,” Soren warned as our commander held it down.

I sat up to see what was going on, and there was a large mass of dark fur pinned to the ground. “What is that thing?” I asked in horror.

Instead of answering verbally, Ike swiftly righted the creature, turned it around, and firmly held it in a choke hold.

I could finally see what it looked like, and my god, it was a true menace. It was covered head to toe in black fur and bulging muscles, its teeth and claws were like knives, and it had the face of a demonic lion. The only article of clothing it wore was a pair of short trousers. It struggled intensely in Ike’s grip, but it eventually succumbed to his hold and went limp.

The monster leered at me with eyes that looked devoid of life, even though it was still alive and fully conscious.

“Who are you?” Ike asked authoritatively, tightening his hold around the thing’s neck.

“I know everything!” It snarled and kicked out with its legs. “Everything!”

“Just what exactly do you mean by that?” Ike’s hold grew even tighter, and his face angrier.

“That earth girl...it doesn’t belong here!” The creature foamed at the mouth. “You will never win this war!” it screamed before passing out from sheer exhaustion in the general’s arms.

Soren looked at the monster with disgust. “So this is our spy then? It matches almost everything people have been saying.”

“It sure was quick too,” Ike added. “Though I’m not convinced it’s a spy exactly. It seems more focused on capturing Serena.”

“Whatever,” Soren said. “Everything strange that’s been happening around here has somehow been linked to her.” He crossed his arms in anger.

Ike narrowed his eyes as he turned to the mage. “What are you suggesting we do?” he asked him.

Soren sighed. “Well, since you have seemed so painfully insistent on keeping her around lately, how about this?”

Surprisingly, Soren decided to spare me from his verbal abuse this time, and came up with a somewhat logical plan. He suggested that from then on, we would no longer be hiring any new fighters, and we would be doubling, or even tripling the amount of guards patrolling the area. The part of his plan that followed, however, wasn’t something I could get behind.

“This beast probably knows too much already, so we can’t just let it leave,” Soren said. “My advice would be to execute it.”

I gasped. Not at Soren’s words, however. I had taken a closer look at the lion’s body, and there were two things that I found especially surprising. The first was a Crimean Army insignia on its trousers. “Uhh, I don’t think we should do that,” I said, pointing to the symbol.

Soren looked at me condescendingly. “That’s obviously a disguise. Do you really think a spy would come in here advertising its Daein origins?” He scoffed.

_This dude will not quit_ , I thought to myself. “That’s not all though,” I pointed to the lion’s ankles, and there were two thick anklets that glowed dimly on each one. My head twinged just looking at them. “Even if he isn’t with us, we should at least cure him and see if he has anything useful to say first,” I suggested.

The blue haired general nodded. “I’m with her on this one,” he said. “Soren?”

“Ugh. Of course you are,” Soren hissed quietly. His angry, blood red eyes examined me with an intense curiosity, perhaps even jealousy. “What does that piece of jewelry have to do with anything, anyway?”

Given the circumstances, I gave Ike permission to explain the relevant parts of my backstory to Soren since he probably wouldn’t have taken _my_ word for it. And finally, after all that explaining, the stubborn mage seemed to see the logic behind my idea.

So with everyone’s consent, Ike broke all four rings with his special golden sword and we all lugged the fur coated beast over to Reyson as fellow soldiers watched in horror.

“Reyson, sorry to bother you, but we need your help,” Ike said once we were outside the heron’s abode.

Thankfully, the dainty laguz gave us permission to enter. “What is—oOohhh my...gOddess!” Reyson jumped back and shielded his face once he saw the monstrosity in front of him. “What kind of demon is this?”

“It’s not a demon,” Ike said. “Whatever this is, we think it’s been affected by that drug Daein is using.”

Reyson peeked through a gap between his fingers and slowly lowered his guard after a short while. “Very well,” he said nervously. “I’ll see what I can do.” The heron cautiously placed his palm on the beast’s chest and began singing the ancient song.

Then, the monster became shrouded in a soft, white light, and its form reverted into a more human like state. Its wild coat of fur faded into skin, and its muscles diminished. It appeared to be a young male lion laguz with thick black hair.

He was still unconscious, so we dragged him to the same isolated room from before for our second interrogation of the day. Just like with the bandit, we had to wait a few minutes for him to come around. Eventually, his once lifeless eyes opened into shiny, vibrant brown ones.

“Gaah!” he shouted upon waking, looking between the three of us. “Wh-what’s going on?”

“Relax,” Ike said calmly. “We just have some questions to ask you.”

_He’s being so much nicer this time_ , I thought.

“Who are you and what business do you have meddling in our affairs?” Soren barked.

_Way to ruin it, Soren_ , I sighed.

“I...I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the laguz cried.

“Answer the questions, subhuman,” the mage said.

“Soren,” Ike shook his head. “Let’s not use names. That won’t get us anywhere.”

“General, I...I swear, I don’t know what happened.” The lion’s rounded ears and slender tail drooped. “I swear to the goddess Ashera.” His whole body was quivering.

Ike and Soren exchanged glances at the laguz’s words, then the blue haired general spoke up. “General? Which side do you hail from?”

“I come from Gallia, but I joined your forces quite a while ago,” he whimpered.

“Then what were you doing sneaking around like that?” Ike asked calmly.

“Huh?” The lion looked up at all of us, fear-struck. “S-sneaking around? All I remember was...was being captured by someone, maybe a couple nights ago.” He looked at his bare ankles. “And he put some glowy rings around my legs, told me awful things, and now I’m here.”

_A couple nights ago?_ The sightings had been going on for way longer than two nights. But then again, if he didn’t even remember sneaking around, how would he know how much time had passed since he started?

“Do you remember anything about this person?”

“N-no,” the young lion turned his face away. “I didn’t even get to see what he looked like. But...he showed me a portrait of her,” he pointed at me with a shaky hand.

Ike and Soren looked over at me standing in the corner of the room, then back at the lion. “Why?” Soren asked.

“I...I don’t know. He said, tell everyone you know everything and bring her to me. Tell everyone...she’s not one of us,” he stammered. “The earth girl must be gone.”

“And why is that?” Soren pressed.

“These weren’t my words. I have no quarrel with her. I’m sincerely sorry if I have caused any of you trouble.” Tears escaped the mighty lion’s sorrowful eyes. “I’m...sorry.”

I couldn’t bear to watch the poor guy anymore.

“Did this happen within our camp?” Ike asked.

“No,” the lion sniffed. “My father died of illness recently, so I was given permission to head home for his funeral. I left, but I was captured early on the trail leading back.”

Ike looked at the laguz man sympathetically, but ultimately, his decision for what to do with the subject was a tough one to make.

_Please don’t execute him, Ike._

“Alright, thank you for cooperating,” the general said. “But we’re going to have to detain you here until the war is over.”

The lion laguz sighed. “I understand, sir.”

We walked the poor chap over to some soldiers who would be in charge of keeping watch of him. He looked downcast, but it was the right thing to do.

“This should be proof enough that Serena isn’t behind all this,” Ike said to Soren. “She was in front of us both while it happened.”

“Alright, alright,” Soren said. “But I still think this is more trouble than it’s worth.”

_Gee thanks Soren. I’m right here, you know._

“We’re not getting rid of her,” Ike stated firmly.

The black haired mage sighed in defeat, eventually leaving me and the general all alone again.

Ike turned and gazed at me softly. “I’m sorry you’ve been caught up in all this,” he said.

“It’s fine,” I frowned and looked away. “It happens.”

“It’s not right though,” he looked at me worriedly and gently rested his warm hand on my scrawny shoulder. “I promise. We’ll get to the bottom of this one way or another.”

I honestly didn’t know if we would because it seemed like every time we figured something out, there was always something else just beyond our reach. But...I still couldn’t help but trust him. 

“Thank you, sir. I mean, uh...Ike,” I blushed.

The boy chuckled charmingly. “Why don’t I walk you back to your quarters?” he offered.

_How sweet_ , I smiled.

Later that evening when Ranulf stopped by to talk to me, he seemed much more chipper than usual. Alarmingly so, given everything that went down that day.

“So I hear you guys caught the shadow?”

“I don’t know anymore,” I said, burying my face in my hands.

“No need to explain,” the cat said. “Ike told me everything already.” He paused and wagged his tail excitedly. “And speaking of Ike, I thought you didn’t want to be friends with him,” Ranulf grinned knowingly.

“H-huh?” Flustered, I folded my arms and turned my head away. “Oh, we-we-we’re not friends, we’re just...uh...friendly acquaintances.”

Ranulf, hearing my obvious lie, laughed shamelessly in my face. “Keep telling yourself that.”


	13. Collapse

Twas the night before the next battle, and I was becoming more stressed with each passing minute. _I got cut up so badly the last time, what if something worse happens this time?_ I thought as I clutched my tome bag nervously, feeling my stomach begin to twist itself in knots. _But I practiced my dodging, I should be good this time. Unless I’m just so terrible that no amount of practice will help._

“Hey, Serena. General wants to see you,” Ranulf said from the doorway of my room, interrupting my anxious train of thought.

I blinked in surprise, not even remembering when he got there. “What for?”

“Not sure,” he replied. “But it’ll be after his war meeting, which I have to get to soon.”

“But that’s gonna take forever,” I whined. I could feel myself holding back a yawn, wishing I could just sleep instead so I didn’t have to sit by myself and wallow in my fears any longer. “What if I fall asleep before it’s finished?”

The cat laughed. “How about you try to not do that? Just sit tight, we shouldn’t be long.” He smiled and sprinted off somewhere, and I closed the door behind him so I could have some sense of privacy.

I plopped back down on my messed up bedroll, and the words ‘we shouldn’t be long’ echoed in my mind while I sat there, wasting away as 10, 20, 30 minutes passed by. I felt my eyelids become heavy, and I could no longer keep them open. When I ‘woke up’, Ranulf was incessantly nagging me to come out.

“You even awake, girlie?”

“Hmm?” I muttered in my sleep.

“Ike. Needs. To. Speak. With. You.”

“Oh hello,” my voice slurred as I spoke absentmindedly.

“Serena.”

“Hah?”

The cat shook his head, frustrated. “I swear to god,” he muttered. “Get your butt out here or I’m going to drag you out.”

I blinked a couple times and rubbed my eyes as I slowly regained lucidity. “Wh-what time is it?” I yelped, turning around to look at the moon setting through the window behind me.

“Late o’ clock,” he said, bursting into my room and grabbing onto my arm. He pulled me out of the fort, through the winding field of tents and around stray soldiers until we reached the long war meeting tent, which had been cleared out just minutes before my arrival.

Ike was waiting outside of it, looking particularly distressed, but when he saw me and Ranulf heading his way, his face lit up a little and he waved us over.

Sadly, Ranulf didn’t spend too much time with us once he handed me over, and once again, I was left alone with just Ike.

“What’s up?” I yawned.

The boy chuckled at my tired self. “Sorry, I know it’s late. Come inside.” He entered the war meeting tent with a swish of his sky blue cape, and I followed closely behind.

The inside was quite large, about four times larger than a normal tent, and it was softly lit with a few large, portable lanterns. Overall, it was cozy, but I had never been in such “official” territory before, so I was unable to relax. “So,” I said as I shakily kneeled down on the ground. “Did you need something?”

Ike nodded as he sat down cross legged in front of me. “Actually, I wanted to offer you a second position as a messenger,” he said. “We probably won’t get the chance to talk before the battle tomorrow, so I wanted to get this over with now.”

“Me? A messenger?”

“Well, I wasn’t going to offer originally,” he explained, adjusting his cape. “But we’re in need of a new one. One of ours...well...he disappeared not too long ago and nobody knows where he is now.”

Knox was a messenger, if I recalled it correctly. Could it have been him? I figured it was a possibility, but I didn’t want to look nosy, so I didn’t bother probing.

“But why me though?” I asked instead.

“It’ll let you get a little extra money after the war is over. When I thought about who to hire, I figured you’d benefit from it the most,” Ike said, looking me firmly in the eye.

For a few seconds, I didn’t know how to react, but after a moment, I grinned sweetly at him, and he was quick to return the gesture. “Oh, thank you,” I looked down coyly.

“The bandit attacks and shadow sightings have quieted down too, ever since we found the lion laguz,” he added. “But just to be safe, I’ll have one or two of our guards accompany you when you’re out and about.”

“That sounds good,” I smiled again. “I’ll take the position.”

“Excellent. All you have to do is get your share of letters delivered to whoever they’re addressed to. We get a lot more than you might expect, so I hope you’re up for a bit of walking in your free time.”

“Oh, that’ll be no problem at all,” I said.

In response to my compliance, Ike smiled slightly, but something about it didn’t seem genuine. He looked kind of spaced out for some reason. Even though it probably wasn’t any of my business, I felt compelled to check on him anyway.

“Is something wrong?” I asked hesitantly.

Seeming momentarily surprised to hear me ask that, the boy’s expression instantaneously hardened. “Remember the Black Knight I told you about?” He clenched his jaw and fixated his blue eyes on the ground, the light of the lanterns fiercely dancing inside of them.

I nodded affirmatively, noticing the sudden tension.

“He’s at Nados.” Tomorrow’s battle was going to happen inside a place called Nados Castle. I was told it would be an important battle, but I didn’t realize how crucial a fight it would be for Ike.

“Oh,” was the only response I could muster as I toyed with the sleeve of my robe and thought of something more comforting to say. “You’ll...you’ll do great.”

“Thanks.” He looked away from me coldly, not wanting to say anything more on the matter. “You’re fighting tomorrow, right?”

I nodded. “Of course.”

“Alright then,” he said curtly. “Sleep well.”

_What?_ I thought as I stood up. _It’s over already?_ It was a very short meeting, and I left feeling even more uncomfortable than when I arrived because of how standoffish he seemed, but I understood well enough. I didn’t know much about the Black Knight, but if just the thought of fighting him was able to cause that much unease for someone like Ike, he must have been quite the adversary. 

Once the morning arrived, Ranulf came to wake me. We would no longer be stationed at Fort Pinell after we left, so I had to gather all my things for the first time in a good while.

Like Ike said the night before, I didn’t get to speak with him at all before arriving at Nados Castle. It was mostly because he was all the way at the front, and Ranulf and I were lagging behind a bit, but he was also busy talking with Soren and Titania. I felt it would be better to give him space instead.

“We’re here, girlie. Let’s join the others,” Ranulf said once the troops slowed to a halt. He quickly pulled me to the front before the general was even able to think of orders.

“Obviously we can’t fit this entire army in this castle,” Ike muttered to Soren. “Let’s bring the very best units we have. Most of them should still be at the front.”

Because of the relatively small size of the castle, the majority of people were told to stay back. In fact, only a total of ten people out of the entire Crimean army were allowed to enter: Ranulf and I, Titania, Oscar, Mist, Rhys, Ike, Soren, and two other people I didn’t recognize.

“Is he positive that ten people are enough?” I whispered to Ranulf worriedly.

He nodded. “He knows what he’s doing,” the cat said with an abnormally serious face. “If there’s one thing I wouldn’t do, it’s underestimate him.”

And boy, Ranulf was right. I couldn’t help but stare at our general as he wiped out the guards in front of the castle and busted down the door without even breaking a sweat. The deafening sound alerted all the other guards within the castle, but it was much too late for them. They couldn’t make it to the doorway in time before the ten of us infiltrated their base.   
Upon entry, there were two sets of stairs on either side of the hallway we found ourselves in, so we had no choice but to split into two groups of five. Ike, Soren, Mist, Ranulf and I sprinted right, and the rest headed left.

We began pushing through the multitude of guards headed our way, and it quickly became clear that I would have to use a vastly different fighting style than I was used to. Even though the castle halls were huge, they were relatively narrow, much narrower than any outdoor battlefield, so I wouldn’t have much room to run if there was ever a need to. Also, I had never even fought inside a building before, so that alone would pose a whole new challenge.

“Your right!” Ranulf growled as he mauled an enemy soldier, pulling me away from my thoughts.

“I’m right about what?” I confusedly yelled in response, but once I was made aware of the halberdier quickly approaching my side from my periphery, I realized just how stupid I sounded. In a flash, I cast my Jörð spell at the enemy, and I killed him. But the rock spikes destroyed the stone floor underneath him and sent debris flying in all directions, which was something I didn’t anticipate happening somehow.

A large piece of stone smacked Ranulf’s ribs, and another piece of rock nearly bonked Ike in the head, but he managed to block it with his sword and shield Soren from the remaining projectiles.

“Oops,” I laughed awkwardly as the others stared.

To my surprise, the general glanced at me _approvingly._ “No, that was good,” he encouraged me. “Just don’t attack enemies too close to us.” After cutting down a foolish soldier approaching him, he looked over at Ranulf and yelled out new orders. “Ranulf! Cover for Serena while she handles the enemies out of our reach!”

_Damn, I’m not used to that at all_ , I thought to myself. But orders were orders, so I did my best to comply. I readied my tome and awaited my chance to strike distant enemies, but as I followed Ranulf through the dimly lit corridors of the castle, I realized that I was practically useless. Soren was too, for that matter. I couldn’t cast my Jörð spell too far away from me, and Ike and Ranulf were wiping the floor with these guards before I even got the chance to attack!

After a few minutes of not being able to fight, I let my mind wander for a bit. It was cool seeing Ranulf tear everything up in his beast form and all, but I found myself more drawn to our general. I mean, he was just a whole new level of strong. The amount of power behind each swing of his sword was impressive. Not to mention his impeccable form and confidence and...uh oh.

I quickly found myself getting terribly distracted by everything he was doing, which meant that I wasn’t putting any energy into helping my own battle partner! I shook my head.

_Get ahold of yourself, Serena, you have to focus. You have to get out there and help somehow!_

Tearing my eyes away from Ike, I dug through my tome bag and found my faded brown Feigr tome just sitting in there, collecting dust. I was fully aware of its destructive potential, but it was the only thing I had that could match the strength of my allies. So, I swapped out my tomes as we were making our way through a long hallway, and I locked my sights onto a group of approaching guards. _I sure hope I’m still able to use this after so long_ , I thought, opening the leather cover of the book with cold, sweaty hands.

The second I uttered the cryptic text inside, the walls began to shake, and a deep rumble reverberated throughout the building. Everyone, including our little band of fighters, stopped in their tracks. 

“What’s going on?” one of the enemy guards yelled.

All of a sudden, a HUGE pillar of rock and fire erupted from the lower floor, blasting straight through the top of the staircase in front of us. Glowing lava spilled down what was left of the stairs and quickly hardened into a thick obsidian slope. The powerful attack vaporized everything in its path, including all the stony debris from the attack. In its aftermath, a large hole was left in the floor and wall, allowing sunlight to pour in from outside and illuminate the dust particles that now contaminated the air. I coughed.

It was much weaker than I remembered it being, but the others didn’t seem to think so. Ranulf turned around and smiled, showing his razor sharp teeth. And Soren, he looked absolutely mystified, hardly managing a glare after witnessing the awesome display. Even the general himself glanced in my direction, making my heart flutter.

But the most rewarding thing of all was the fact that I could even use Feigr in the first place.

Unfortunately, I had no time to celebrate since we were in the middle of a battle, and there were enemies to kill. Though I suppose my form of celebration was being able to obliterate any enemies I laid eyes on as we pressed onwards through the seemingly endless halls.

Once we were at the base of the final flight of stairs, I had recovered enough of my strength from the last attack to unleash the fury of the earth upon the unsuspecting victims at the top, leaving no trace of them behind (or so I thought). We started to advance up the semi-slippery slope, and just then, another lone guard came barreling toward us.

“Whoop!” He slipped on the obsidian and landed flat on his bum, right at Ike’s feet.

Ike looked down at him, and the guard cautiously looked back up at Ike.

The sight of our general caused the guard to spazz, and he nearly broke the wooden handle of his own spear in the process. “Yeah. Yeah don’t mind me. I’m just gonna...go now.” He slowly stood and picked up his spear as the general’s eyes stayed glued on his trembling form. “I yield!” The soldier ran away with his arms flailing in the air.

Aside from that fool, there were no foes remaining besides the enemy commander. I half expected to see the mythical Black Knight once we got to the top of the blackened stairs, but no. There was just one rather old and cheerful looking general named Hafedd standing in front of a huge set of doors.

The other five allies that split up with us at the beginning rejoined us just in time to see Ike confront the man at the door. 

“Is the Black Knight there?” the blue haired boy demanded an answer, keeping a firm grip on his sword.

But in response to Ike’s threatening approach, our enemy just stood there, smiled, and said, “yes.”

“Step aside,” our general ordered, staring the old man down. “I need to see him.”

Hafedd continued to smile as he drew his sharpened spear. “I move...for no man. You must vanquish me before I allow you to see Sir Knight.” He attempted to land a hit, but Ike blocked the strike with his shoulder plate and quickly countered the attack with a fierce strike. Hafedd winced, but the kind looking man certainly wasn’t one to back down. “You are...strong, indeed,” he grunted, spearing through Ike’s cape. “Had we not been at war, I would have loved to learn more about your relationship with Sir Knight!”

Hafedd’s comment failed to lower Ike’s guard, and he was taken down with a swift slash on top of a tactful wind spell from Soren. He collapsed to his knees, choking out his last words: “It...appears...this is the end...gaakkhhh.” His spear fell to the ground with a light clang.

“The one I seek is behind these doors,” Ike whipped around to face the rest of us who were eagerly awaiting his command. But his only words were a surprise to us all. “Don’t any of you follow me,” he uttered without emotion and closed his eyes.

Mist, who was just a few feet away from me yelled out, “brother!”

_Oh no, what’s he doing?!_ My brown eyes widened in fear.

“Ike, wait!” Soren cried, running after the boy. But it was too late. Our general didn’t wait for anyone to respond and made a hasty retreat into the room behind the fancy doors, shutting the rest of us out.

Titania stepped in and blocked the mage’s path. “Soren,” she said, glowering down at him with her fiery green eyes. “This is his fight, and his alone.”

Despite her stern words, Soren continued to protest, and the first morsel of care I’ve ever heard from him emerged within his voice. “But,” he furrowed his brow. “What if something happens to him?”

The red haired woman adopted a sorrowful look and pleaded for his understanding, but I could tell she was concerned, too. “Soren. After all he has done to get us here, I am confident he knows what he’s doing. You and I both know that he has grown so much since this war started, and I doubt he would have gone in there if he didn’t think he could match the foe behind those doors. He wouldn’t throw himself away and leave us behind like that. Please, Soren. You need to trust his judgment, for his sake.”

For once, the mage was stumped, and had nothing to say back for a while. His normally pompous facade had crumbled, and beneath it was a seemingly completely different person. “I...I don’t like it,” his voice wavered, and his red orbs showed great concern.

I eyed his slouched form worriedly, as if to somehow communicate to him that I was feeling the same things he was, and to my surprise, he noticed me looking at him. But instead of returning my gaze with a glare, he hastily averted his gaze and shied away from everyone.

And for some reason, I felt _bad_. Like I felt sorry for him, and I wanted to talk to him, even though he had been so mean to me this whole time. It was a surreal feeling.

“I don’t think Ike would want all of us standing here and watching the doors,” Titania said suddenly, interrupting my thoughts. “You should all leave the castle and wait outside.”

“Yes ma’am,” Ranulf was quick to follow her orders and he ushered me down an undamaged corridor towards the castle’s exit. Even _he_ looked a lot more serious and worried than usual.

We made it out with our lives, but not with any sense of victory or triumph. After we exited, I was unable to tear my eyes away from that castle as I waited for the moment when the doors would swing open. I saw how Ike fought earlier so I thought he would be out in no time at all. _He’s just fighting one guy_ , I thought. But when one minute turned into half an hour, my fears grew exponentially.

Then, there was a rumbling sound that startled the birds that had perched atop the castle. Bricks and pieces of rock started falling from the structure, and the once sturdy walls began to shake from an unknown force. The whole place was crumbling apart!

_Oh no, I shouldn’t have used Feigr indoors. I must have destroyed the structural integrity of the whole thing!_

Feelings of guilt clawed at my insides and threatened to rip me apart as I watched the entire building collapse to the ground, leaving nothing but a pile of rubble and an enormous plume of dust that shrouded the scene. My stomach sank. _It’s all my fault_ , I thought as I cried into my hands.

“Serena, look!” Ranulf said, tapping me on the shoulder.

I opened my bleary eyes, and through the dust cloud, I saw a shadow. A single, hazy figure was emerging from the swirling sands.

_Is that the Black Knight?_ I gasped in fear. But as it turns out, that shadow was actually four people: Titania, Soren, Mist, and a slightly bloodied Ike. Upon seeing their return, my tears slowed, and my fear immediately faded.

“They’re ok,” Ranulf smiled at me, waiting for me to dry my face. “C’mon, we can’t miss the news!” He excitedly grabbed onto my arm and dragged me through the crowd of people that were already beginning to gather around the four.

When we made it up there, Ike looked seriously exhausted, but also very relieved. “I...did it. I avenged you...father,” the boy spoke to himself, ignoring everyone else’s presence. Though, once he realized that he couldn’t take a second to ignore his responsibilities and that he still had to give orders to an entire army, he was quick to snap back into focus. “Let’s set up camp. I need to rest.” The orders were delivered, and everyone dispersed, trying to secure a prime location for their tent.

“Hey, kitten. Happy now?” Ranulf poked me, noticing the slight smile on my face.

“Yeah,” I said, allowing my slight smile to widen into a toothy grin as I dropped my stuff onto the dry ground. I was planning on setting up like everyone else was, but it was impossible to focus on anything with that cat staring at me with those colorful eyes of his, watching my every move.

“What?” I stopped unfolding my baggage and turned to him, slightly annoyed.

Ranulf nudged my side with his elbow. “You really _do_ like him don’t you?”

Eyes wide, I turned my back to him to hide my growing blush. “No! I’m just happy they’re all ok!” I huffed.

“Oh ho! Speak of the devil!” The _actual_ little devil placed his palms on my head and messed my hair up before making his escape. “I’m gonna go talk to Mordecai for a bit. Catch you later, kay?”

When I turned around, Ranulf was already long gone. Instead, I spotted the blue haired general making his way over to me. _Oh right, I’m a messenger now!_ I remembered, running my fingers through my hair and continuing to ‘fix’ my posture until Ike was just a few feet away from me.

His azure cape waved in the pleasant breeze, and his face possessed a certain sternness yet at the same time, a softness, as he began thinking of what to say first. He seemed a bit more hesitant than usual, too, which was definitely odd. “You did great in battle today,” he said. “Glad to see you’ve improved.”

“Oh, thank you,” I blushed.

“What was that spell you used though?” He asked, referring to the massive lava earth thing.

_Oh you know, the spell that nearly killed you while you were still in the castle._

With the event still fresh in my mind, I frowned. “Oh. I...it was my other tome, Feigr.” My voice quieted, and I looked away from him out of guilt.

“I’m impressed,” he smiled. “Keep up the good work.”

I turned my head away. “I’m sorry.”

“Hmm?”

“I think I might have been responsible for the castle’s collapse. I’m sorry.” I clutched my sleeve nervously.

“Um...no you weren’t,” his once pleasant expression was now closer to a scowl.

“But...didn’t you see my spell? It destroyed like half the castle. It’s no wonder it collapsed after that! I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry.”

Ike’s glare intensified. “You need to stop assuming you did something wrong. It wasn’t your attacks that brought the place down. Once I defeated the Black Knight, his allies activated some kind of trap, and that’s when it happened.”

I blinked. “Wait. Really?”

The boy nodded affirmatively, maintaining his angry look. “You know, you really remind me of Soren sometimes,” he said, running his partially gloved fingers through his blue tresses as he averted his gaze.

_An insult!_ I thought. “How on Earth?” Thinking about it for a moment, I could see that we were both scrawny mages, but I felt like I was way different from him in almost every other way. That said, I didn’t know him all too well outside of our mostly unpleasant interactions, and the _slight_ bit of care I noticed he had for Ike.

“I don’t know, just the way you talk about yourself sometimes,” he paused. “But you’re both talented mages and have a good mind for tactics, too.” His eyes seemed to twinkle all of a sudden.

As much as I wished it wasn’t true, I couldn’t deny some of those similarities. “But he’s rude,” I pointed out, crossing my arms. There was no way I was like that!

“Maybe with people he doesn’t know well,” Ike said knowingly. “He’s really just a softie who tries to put on a hard front.”

_Hmm, maybe I’m more like Soren than I originally thought. Aww frick!_ Dwelling on the reality of it, my eyes darted every which way, and I laughed nervously. “Well, I guess you can just call me Sorina then.”

After that little comment, the general studied my face curiously and raised his eyebrows, then the corners of his mouth curled upward, revealing his pristine teeth. Then, a small snicker morphed into full blown laughter, something that I don’t think I’ve ever heard him do. He quickly stifled his outburst, but a pleasant smirk still remained. “Ok, Sorina. As you wish.”

I gawked at the boy upon hearing his remark, then exploded in an uncontrollable fit of giggles. It was impossible for me to speak without laughing between every word.

“Um…are you finished?” Ike rested his hand on the back of his neck while maintaining a small smile. “You have to take care of your messenger duties.”

_He said doodies._ My ceaseless laughter continued on. _Damnit, he couldn’t have picked a worse word._ Realizing how awkward this probably was for the general, I tried thinking of the most unfunny things, eventually managing to quiet my endless giggling and catch my breath.

“Ok,” the boy glanced at me just to make sure I had truly calmed myself. “All these incoming letters were given to me, unfortunately, so here you go.” He placed a big sac into my arms, and it was filled to the brim with envelopes and small trinkets.

Then, a couple Crimean soldiers approached us, and I remembered that Ike had appointed them to escort me around camp. Complete strangers! There were better things to worry about than that though. Like, how would I get all the mail delivered by the end of the night?

“Good luck,” Ike said before walking away.

So, I spent the entire evening, and even much of the night, walking all over camp, handing people things they had been sent. It was excruciatingly tiring and I collapsed in my tent as soon as I was finished with my shift, which was much later than I would have liked.

The next morning, I expected to be dead tired, but I woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed. That was odd, so I poked my head out of my tent, and the sun was much higher in the sky than it usually was when we woke up. _Did I oversleep?_ I panicked. Well, if I did, then everyone else did too.

Apparently Ike had slept in far later than he usually did, which was understandable given what happened the day before. Besides, we didn’t have to rush to be anywhere, so he wasn’t that particular about when he woke up. I was just thankful for the extra sleep, honestly.

During the early afternoon, when we all packed up our things, Ranulf informed me we were finally headed toward Melior, the capital of Crimea. Our final destination. That came as a complete shock to me because everything was so chill that morning. There should have been a rush, or at least a foreboding air if we were truly headed to the capital, I thought, but there was nothing of the sort. It just felt like any other journey.

The whole walk there, I couldn’t even believe we were that close to the end, since it felt like I had only just joined, yet so much had happened.

We arrived at our destination much faster than I thought we would, but I didn’t see anything that resembled a capital city. In fact, there was only a small fort and an abandoned millhouse we ended up using for storage. But then I realized it would be the worst idea in the history of humanity to set up camp in plain view of the enemy, so it made perfect sense to set up in that location. There were still some preparations to make, too, so we were supposed to stay back until the time was right, whenever that would be.

So we set up camp, and most people needed to stay in their tents since the fort we were based at only had space for a certain number of people, but luckily, Ike let me use one of the rooms. I found myself a cozy looking room (as cozy as a room in an abandoned fort can be) towards the end of the first hall to the left, and to my delight, there was a bed inside of it this time! After carefully inspecting the dusty old bed for spiders and other creepy crawlies, I plopped myself upon it to rest my eyes. It didn’t take long for me to begin to nod off, and I was just about to fall asleep when Ike’s voice completely snapped me out of it.

“Serena, you there?” His voice sounded tense.

I rubbed my eyes tiredly. “Oh, yes. Just a sec,” I said, stretching on top of the faded blue covers.

“May I enter?” he asked after a moment.

Somewhat surprised at the request, I happily welcomed him in, but the boy only barely entered the door and stayed standing in the entrance, blocking some of the late-afternoon light coming in from outside.

Placing a hand on his waist, Ike sighed and looked at me seriously. “The end of the war is almost here,” he reminded me. “Probably just a couple days away now.”

_He came and woke me up from my nap just to tell me something I already knew? How odd_ , I thought. “I know. I almost can’t believe it,” I replied.

“But there’s one more thing we need to do before that fight,” he said, holding firm eye contact with me.

I cocked my head, confused. “All the preparations, right?”

“No,” the boy shook his head. “Not that. We may have found the source of the drug.”

“Wait, what?”

One of his associates had apparently discovered some useful information regarding the whole investigation on the spy allegations and the drug. I didn’t know her, but Ike said she went and searched for clues, and she discovered a troop of Daein soldiers assigned to a place called Gritnea Tower. Based on what she found, it was suspected that the drug had come from there. She would not tell anybody exactly what she found, however, leaving it to the rest of us to find out for ourselves.

“At daybreak tomorrow, I’m going to be taking a small force over there with me,” Ike informed me. “And that includes you.”

As eager as I was to possibly find out who was behind the substance that caused all my problems, I didn’t see the logic behind such a detour. “But don’t you have to focus more on the battle at the capital? You’re this army’s general after all,” I said.

“I’m leaving Elincia in charge of continuing the preparations while I’m gone,” Ike assured me. “She’s just as capable of overseeing things.”

Despite his confidence, I still felt unsure if it was the right thing to do. “Why go through all the trouble though?” I asked. “It seems a bit out of your way.”

Ike stared at me blankly. “We’ve gotten this far in our search, I’m not just going to turn a blind eye to it now,” he said. “Besides. Whatever we find there might end up being important to the upcoming fight.”

Alright, fine. Sound reasoning there, Ike. “Good point, but I sincerely hope we don’t regret going there.”

The boy’s expression turned cold. “We won’t,” he said. “If anything, I’d regret _not_ going there even more.”

“Why?”

“Peace won’t truly be restored to this country with an organization like that still in business,” he explained. “And I promised I’d help you.”

My heart jumped slightly. “A-are you sure it can’t wait until after the final fight? I...couldn’t live with myself if you all lost because of this.”

After he heard me speak, Ike’s frigid expression quickly morphed into what looked like a slight glare. “Yes. After the war, I won’t have the numbers necessary to seize a tower like that. So it’s now or never.”

Recognizing how agitated he seemed to be getting, I stopped doubting him, and instead just affirmed his decision. He had enough stress to deal with, and it sounded like he thought through his plan a lot more than I realized. “Ok. I hear you,” I said calmly and smiled. “Thank you so much.”

And just as I thought, his features relaxed and took on a more pleasant appearance once I agreed. “How come you seem so against people helping you sometimes?” he asked suddenly.

I blinked, not knowing what to say. “Um,” I started. “What do you mean?”

The boy chuckled lightly. “It’s just something I’ve noticed,” he said, looking at me intently. “Any time I offer to do something for you, you always come up with a reason against it.”

Sitting there and thinking about it for a moment, I realized there was absolutely no good reason for my behavior, and I was just getting in my own way. “I don’t know,” I frowned. “I guess I’m just not used to it anymore.”

“I see,” Ike said. “Well, get used to it.”

_Gee thanks Ike._


	14. The Plot Thickens

At the break of dawn the next day, there was someone repeatedly knocking on the door to my room, which was a terrifying way to wake up. I spazzed, completely messing up the flimsy blue sheets that covered me. After realizing the chaotic mess I had made, I picked up on the faint sound of some fuzzball outside trying his best not to laugh (he failed).

“Raaaaaanulf!” I croaked. It was so early in the morning that my voice wasn’t even ready to cooperate with me.

“Today is drug bust day!” Ranulf exclaimed, clapping his hands to make the most annoying racket possible. “Let’s go! We get to find out who’s behind all this!”

The excitement of finally discovering the root of the bandit attacks and everything that had been tormenting me was sufficient to rouse me. However, I realized there was an equally good chance that we would leave that tower the same way we concluded all of our other investigations: without any further leads, still yearning to find the next piece of the puzzle. Regardless, I was more than eager to go forth at the mere _prospect_ of concluding our search. But at the same time, I was absolutely terrified. I mean, if Gritnea Tower was truly the source of that foul substance, I didn’t even want to imagine the kinds of people, or possibly even the monstrosities, that would be defending that place.

“Serena! Your boy wants us moving as soon as possible, so sleeping all day like yesterday isn’t gonna fly!” he barked. “If you don’t move in ten seconds, I’m gonna come in and move you myself!”

_My boy?!_ I hurled myself outside my mess of a bed, yanked open the door, and flopped down on the stone floor in front of Ranulf’s boots. “You know what, just because you said that, I’d love to see you try getting me to move now,” I smirked, waiting to see if he was bluffing or not.

With a grin, the laguz squatted down in front of me and hoisted me up onto his back without a second thought. “I warned you!” he yelled at my face which now rested on his shoulder. The troops were almost ready to leave, so Ranulf hurriedly carried me outside the fort and over to the front of the small group of people.

“I’d love to see you fight like this, too then!” I joked. Not gonna lie though, I quite enjoyed being a little lazy, so it was an interesting suggestion that I gave almost no thought to.

He stopped. “Wait. You’ve got some good ideas, Serena. We can be a single superpowered unit who can maul people AND use magic! Brilliant!”

_I never should have opened my mouth,_ I thought, sighing and letting my arm droop over his other shoulder. Thinking about it more, I realized there were many, many things that could have gone wrong. “I was being facetious, Ranulf. If we were to actually do that, I have a feeling it would end really badly,” I said, haphazardly messing with one of his pointy ears that twitched to my reply.

“Why?”

“Well, if someone lands a hit, _both_ of us will get injured. Not to mention it’s harder for me to aim when I have no idea where I’m moving next.” I paused as I felt Ranulf begin playing with my limp fingers. “I could go on.”

“Nah, it could totally work.” His sky blue ears and tail perked up as he imagined us fighting like that. “Think about it!”

“Enlighten me.”

“One, I rarely get hit. Two, you’re as light as a heron feather. Three, I can tell you who to attack and when.” Even though I couldn’t see his face, I just knew he had a smug grin plastered on it.

I muttered unintelligible syllables as I tried to come up with a rebuttal, but I had no choice but to acquiesce. “Fine, you win. But this had better not go south or it’s on you.”

Once we reached the front of the small bunch of fighters, Ike did a blatant double take when he saw us and hurried over. For the first time in my life, I was at eye level with the boy. “Uh...what are you two doing?” he asked, shifting his focus between me and Ranulf.

The cat’s sky blue tail waved, inadvertently tickling my back. “Well well, I’m glad you asked, good sir,” he said in a ridiculously exaggerated posh accent. “This fine young lady here had a brilliant idea this morning.”

_Oh please,_ I stifled a laugh, but it became about ten times more difficult the moment I caught a glimpse of Ike’s surprised expression, and I couldn’t help but grin.

“She suggested we combine to form one unit. We call it THE...lage...no...catgician...no...THE LAGICIAN! Not only can we physically attack enemies, but we can use powerful magic on them, too, all at the same time!” he smiled widely. “We’ll be invincible!”

Despite Ranulf’s excitement, the general didn’t exactly look too enthused. “...Right. Just promise me it won’t get the both of you killed, alright? The one on your back is apparently bad luck.” There was this mischievous glint in his eyes that seemed to linger.

My stomach jumped. “Me?!” I blushed.

The boy lowered his gaze slightly, eyeing my flushed cheeks, and there was a distinct, uncharacteristic smirk on his face. “Good to see you’re paying attention,” he said in a mocking tone, but his face was quick to return to its normal, angry looking state. “Seriously though. Don’t get distracted. You’ll be fighting at Gritnea Tower in less than half an hour.”

I giggled. “That rhymed.”

Upon hearing my response, Ike’s face dropped even lower than I ever imagined it could. “Ok, so I see we have our priorities straight. I think you’ve been hanging around Ranulf too much.”

Right on cue, the cat burst out into a mad laughter and grinned devilishly. “Jealous?”

_Ranulf! He has no reason to be._

Closing my eyes, I let my head droop over his shoulder in an effort to hide from the general’s stare.

Ike stayed oddly silent for a second, loosely fixed his hand around the belt that hugged his waist, and let out an awkward chuckle. “I’m not the jealous type, Ranulf. Anyway, good luck,” he said curtly, abruptly leaving the conversation to speak with Soren.

“Darn he’s good,” Ranulf shook his head in disappointment. “But not good enough! He’s totally jealous, Serena.” He straightened his posture triumphantly.

I gently punched his head. “Are you kidding me? That doesn’t sound jealous at all. And besides,” I lowered my voice. “Why would he waste time with _me_ of all people?” I frowned. Remembering that Aimee girl exacerbated the emptiness inside of me.

But all of a sudden, the cat trembled with happiness. “Oh ho! So I was right! There IS something going on in that brain of yours! Well, we’ll talk about this later. We’re on the move.”

He started prancing forward with me still on his back, so I decided it was the perfect opportunity to rest my tired eyes and avoid thinking about Ike and Aimee together. So, I sealed my eyes and zoned out, thinking about nothing in particular for what seemed like ages. But at some point, I was rudely snapped out of my mellow thoughts by an intense headache and a feeling of what I could only describe as suffocation. Most of it faded by the time I became fully aware, though my breathing was still effortful and wheezy, and as we neared the tower, my symptoms slowly worsened again. My head started to throb, it felt heavy and stuffy, and my entire body flashed between hot and cold. Then, I caught a whiff of some putrid smell in the air that burned through my nostrils all the way up to my brain, but nobody else seemed to notice it or the fact that I was there slowly losing consciousness on a laguz’s back!

Purple and green blotches suddenly obstructed my vision, and every sound became muffled and distant. _Help,_ I wanted to yell, but nothing came out. My arms felt like bricks of lead and refused to respond to any and all neural impulses signaling them to hold on tight, so I slipped off and fell backward onto the ground. Immediately after my untimely descent, Ranulf kneeled down over me and checked my vital signs, but I couldn’t register his touch. Ike’s voice was barely audible.

“Ranulf! Take her back to base and make sure she’s ok. Catch up with us at the tower as soon as possible.”

The now blurry figure that was supposed to be Ranulf scooped me up off the ground, and I finally succumbed to the shadows that were infesting my senses.

When I woke up, I was back in my room, all alone. A shaft of light filtered through a window on the wall that faced the foot of my bed, illuminating part of my torso. Pressing my hand against my head, I tried to relieve the pain that lingered from earlier.

“Ow, what happened?” I muttered to myself, feeling slightly panicked. When I remembered Ranulf picking me up, I slowly calmed down and realized that I probably wasn’t in any danger, but I still felt unsettled knowing that I couldn’t recall half of what happened before that.

To add to my feeling of unsettlement, there were absolutely no sounds except for the tiny scratching of mouse claws in the ceiling, so I wasn’t sure if people were still at battle, everyone was just being super quiet, or worst case scenario, everyone had left without me. To try and narrow down the possibilities, I carefully pulled open the dull wooden door on the wall to the left of the bed, and poked my head out the doorway. Once I saw the Crimean guards walking up and down the halls and noticed the field of tents through the large stone holes carved in the wall in front of me, I felt immediate relief. I didn’t recognize anyone, so I figured Ranulf, Ike and the others were still at Gritnea Tower.

_Ok, I guess I’ll just wait here then,_ I thought as I backed into my room and closed the door. _What to do, what to do,_ I scanned the small space, spotting a rustic night stand pressed against the wall to the right of my bed, with drawers that had most likely been untouched for years. There were dusty cobwebs surrounding the handle. _Ew._ I slipped the tip of my shoe through the brass handle, dragging the sticky thing open. Inside, there were a few feather pens, ink bottles, and stained paper; my only form of entertainment.

My hand took hold of the pen, and I allowed my mind to take over as I scribbled meaningless symbols onto the paper in an effort to process my thoughts. I sketched and sketched, quickly losing track of time as the sun moved from the bed to the rough stone floor.

It wasn’t until I heard a firm knock on the door that I realized how much time had actually passed. My stomach dropped and my heart started to pound. _Oh crap, bandit!_ I panicked internally. _Whatever you do, don’t answer!_

There was a tight space between the bed and the wall, so I made a furtive dive right into it, hugging my trembling knees. The knock happened again. At this point, my heart felt like it was literally in my throat trying to pump molasses.

“Serena, you in there?” It was Ike.

A wave of relief washed over me once I heard his voice. “Y-yeah!” I squeaked.

The door opened and in walked the general, his eyes immediately locking onto me in the tiny corner. “Uh, what are you doing?” He slowly approached the bed while keeping his focus on me.

“Heh. You know, just...studying the stone...to uh...enhance my earth powers,” I grinned nervously.

He didn’t seem to buy that, obviously, and shot me a confused glance. “Looks kind of dusty though. How about you come out of there so we can talk for a moment?” He motioned with his index finger.

As I climbed over the bed and tried to properly stand in front of him, I felt a slight bit of tension as the boy looked down at me, carefully examining my face.

“Were you studying spiders too?”

_What an odd question,_ I thought.“Ew, no. Why?”

“Well, there’s a creepy looking one crawling on your head right now.”

“Ahhh!” I shrieked, freezing in place. _Frick frick frick get it off get it off get it off!_

The blue haired boy instinctively reached up and fearlessly plucked the arachnid out of my hair.

I shuddered upon seeing the fat bug squirm between his fingers and started to furiously brush my hair in case there were any more.

“You’re scared of this little thing?” He eyed the eight legged bug.

I paused my frantic hair brushing to respond. “Hey, it’s called a phobia. I’m sure you have some, too,” I huffed as Ike threw the spider out the door.

He crossed his arms. “Of course I have fears, but not irrational ones. That tiny thing won’t hurt you.”

The nerve of him mercilessly judging my fear of spiders like that! Honestly I didn’t understand how someone could _not_ be afraid of those creatures from hell. I mean, the unpredictability and speed of their movements, and the way their silk feels...I’d get creeped out just _thinking_ about it. But despite his lack of understanding, I couldn’t be mad at him.

“Anyway, are you ok now?” Genuine concern was evident in his voice.

“Y-yeah, I think so. But what even happened to me before the battle? I don’t remember _anything._ ”

Ike scratched the back of his head. “You just sort of fainted out of nowhere, so Ranulf had to bring you back here. But you know, I’m sort of glad things turned out that way.”

“Why? What happened?” _Glad about me passing out?_

The general frowned as horrific memories flashed through his mind. “You know the place we were approaching? It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen, I don’t think you would have been able to handle it.”

“What was there?” I asked, mimicking Ike’s expression.

He sighed. “It...it was so vile, Serena. There were laguz corpses everywhere, all of them twisted and warped beyond recognition, much like that lion laguz we caught, but worse. They were all the subjects of experiments using the same drug that had been used on you.”

My deep brown eyes suddenly became inundated with scalding tears of rage. “Oh my god,” I exhaled, imagining the horrific scene. “Who was behind this? Was it anyone we know? Anyone that gets us closer to what we’re trying to find out?” I asked desperately as a deep redness singed my cheeks.

Ike shook his head. “Unfortunately it’s nobody that adds anything to our search,” he explained to me. “A strange old man named Izuka was the one who performed the awful experiments, but King Ashnard had ordered them, and that’s no surprise.”

My body trembled with a growing rage. _Of **course** there was nothing relevant. Why **would** there be?_ I thought. “There must have been something else. That can’t be all,” I scowled, curling my hands onto tight fists.

Ike squinted, still maintaining his blank expression, but I could tell there was much more going on behind his emotionless eyes. “Now that you mention it…” he trailed off.

_What? What is it?_

“There _was_ someone else, but we didn’t fight him,” he continued, still lost in thought.

“What do you mean?” my voice wavered.

The boy squinted harder. “When we arrived at the tower, someone was running off into the distance. I only caught a quick glimpse before he was gone.”

“Do you remember what he looked like?”

“Barely. He was too far,” Ike sighed. “All I remember was...dark armor and...maybe a sword.” He looked at me and widened his deep blue eyes upon remembering the figure’s description. “The shadow?”

My stomach sank. “It couldn’t be.” _It totally could,_ I thought as I returned his wide-eyed gaze. “Didn’t we catch the shadow?”

I thought so, but Ike didn’t look so sure. “The laguz we caught said was captured outside of camp and brought back somehow. Maybe he wasn’t the real one,” he said.

I remembered the first time Ranulf and I saw the mysterious figure, it looked exactly how Ike just described it. Dark, and it was carrying a sword. But it was completely possible we were reading too much into it. After all, anything would look shadowy under the guise of night, and swords were all too common of a weapon. The man that Ike saw at the Gritnea Tower was more than likely someone we had never faced before. In fact, it might not have been a stretch to say that the first shadow Ranulf and I saw at camp was merely one of our own allies. But one thing still confused me, why did the man at the tower run?

“Damn,” I said, looking down at my feet. “So basically, we found out nothing.” The war was soon coming to a close, meaning that my time having access to Ike and the rest of the army’s help was running out. What was going to happen to me once the battle against King Ashnard was all said and done? Would I be forced to return to life on the run with bandits constantly on my tail again, just with the knowledge that there was some grand poobah behind it all? I hoped not. But the mere thought of it threw me into a mild tizzy. Every muscle in my body quivered and I just couldn’t hold back the waterworks. Burning liquid trickled down my cheeks and dripped onto the floor. The chill of fear and dread crept up on me, but then I was met with an unexpected warmth.

It was the heat radiating off of Ike who was now less than a foot in front of me. Gently resting his palm on my shoulder, he stood before me and spoke in a low, comforting tone. “Serena, one way or another, we’re going to get to the bottom of this,” he assured me. “It’s going to happen. I promise.”

His confident words begged for me to meet his eyes. Timidly, I did just that, as if I had completely forgotten about how little progress we had made, and how tear-laden my face was.

The boy’s blue orbs, despite appearing devoid of emotion, smiled at me. And like magic, I could feel my tears begin to dry.

“I promise,” he repeated, wordlessly staring at me for a moment as his pupils widened ever so slightly.

“Th-thanks,” I whispered, nearly hypnotized by his gaze.

Once Ike took notice of the developing trance, he quickly stepped back and let his hand fall to his side again, taking his heat with him. “Oh, Serena. I almost forgot,” he pulled out a huge sac from seemingly nowhere and held it out to me.

I blinked in surprise. “Wh-where did that come from?” I laughed awkwardly.

“You mean you didn’t see me walk in with it?” he asked, almost like he was mocking my lack of awareness. “You have to deliver all these letters.”

I stared at the bag with my mouth agape. “How are there so many already?”

Ike exhaled, slightly amused. “I didn’t say this job would be easy,” he dropped the bag on my bed and turned to walk out of the room. “We’re just about done with the preparations for our battle, so I need to go and finish that.”

“Wait,” I said, causing the general to face me again. “When exactly is the battle?”

“We’re planning to head out late tomorrow morning,” he replied.

I gulped nervously. “That soon?”

The boy nodded. “Yeah. We have a solid strategy, and it’s best we don’t wait too long.”

“Damn I don’t think I’m ready,” I muttered.

The boy, hearing my words, looked off to the side then back at me. “You’re more ready than you think. But I’ll come up with something for you by dusk,” he said. “Just so that you feel more prepared.”

I blushed. “Oh, you don’t have to, I—”

Ike crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

_Damn it, there I go again._ “I mean...thank you Ike,” I smiled, lowering my head.

“In the meantime, I’ll be in a war meeting, so if you have other questions, ask around,” he spared me one last glance before heading out the door and down the hall, his blue cape trailing elegantly behind him.

After our conversation, I couldn’t help but feel guilty. Ike was doing so much for me, but I had done nothing for him in return, and it was beginning to eat away at me.

Trying to push those thoughts to the back of my mind, I instead stared at the massive sac resting on my messy sheets. _Might as well start sorting now,_ I thought, dumping all the letters out onto my bed before my appointed guards arrived.

There were hundreds of the things, but among all of them, one of the envelopes stood out to me. It was buried under a few others and blended in with the rest underneath, but it had my name written on it in fine black ink.

_Who would be sending me a letter?_ I thought.

Curiously, I picked up the message and tore open the neatly sealed flap of the envelope. Digging my hand inside, I felt a single scrap of paper. It was blank on one side, but the other side had a short, yet carefully crafted note. It read:

_You missed all of the signs, so I will only tell you this once. Leave the Crimean Army and join Daein while you can if you ever hope to see your friends again. Heed this warning, or you will regret it.  
— The “Shadow”_

My face turned cold, and I swore my heart stopped for a second after I read the words on the page. My first instinct was to bolt out of that room and show Ike or Ranulf, but I remembered they had just gone to a war meeting. I wasn’t about to tell just anyone, so all that was left to do was wait until they were finished and deliver the other letters in the meantime. But my god, with the words of the mysterious letter swimming in the forefront of my mind, the wait would be torture.


	15. Newfound Power

I glanced at the next letter. _Who’s Brom? Who’s Zihark? Who’s Boyd? Who’s Kieran? I...well I know Gatrie. But...who the hell is Steve R.???_

I spent most of the evening running around trying to locate every recipient to every letter, and believe me, it was a task from hell. By the end of it, just before nightfall, I nearly forgot I had legs. And to top it all off, I still had one damn letter left. Of course, it wasn’t just _any_ old letter. It was addressed to _Ike_ , from _**Aimee**_ , and it had a stupid, dumb, ugly heart stamp on it. Just looking at the thing was enough to make me cringe, and I was tempted to destroy the envelope in my hands right then and there, but I was better than that. Instead, I pocketed it for the time being and calmly dismissed the two guards that had been escorting me.

I had to get to Ike. Alone. Not only to deliver that love letter, but also to inform him of the note I received from the shadow; private business that I didn’t think random guards had the right to know.

_He’s got to be done with that war meeting by now_ , I panicked, feeling dread build up within me as the last bit of daylight faded away.

Shoving my hands in the deep pockets of my robes, I scanned the camp through the ever-growing darkness to try and find him. I was already pretty close to the fort, so I figured I would start there.

_Perhaps he’s in his room now_ , I thought, hurrying along the outside wall toward the entrance. As I approached the front corner of the building from the side, I heard his voice faintly coming from around that same corner, causing my heart rate to accelerate. I was focused on nothing else except reaching him and delivering the news, but something stopped me in my tracks before I rounded the bend. It was the voice of Aimee. Quickly halting my movements, I held my breath and stood with my back pressed against the wall, carefully listening in on their conversation as I felt my innards twist.

“My, you’re so handsome in the moonlight,” Aimee spoke playfully over the soft chirps of crickets.

My chest tightened and squeezed at her words. I couldn’t bear to hear anything beyond that, but at the same time, I couldn’t turn away. I fully expected to hear Ike readily flirt back, but when he finally responded to her advances, it wasn’t at all what I thought would happen.

“Listen, Aimee,” his words were unexpectedly cold. “You crossing paths with me has no special meaning. I just happened to be here.” He actually sounded more annoyed than anything.

After hearing that, I could feel a slight bit of hope return to me, as I was nearly certain that they weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend. But their conversation wasn’t over just yet, so I leaned in closer to the source of their voices and continued listening in.

The woman tee-heed. “You must be blind to not see it! Us becoming one...it’s destiny! I can feel it right...here.”

Ike gasped. “Get your hand off me, woman,” he spat.

I was just beginning to feel better about the situation, as though my soul itself was rising up, but the exchange that followed sent me crashing all the way back down.

Aimee laughed again. “Oh my, the way your hand holds my wrist. So romantic.”

The boy sighed heavily. “Look. I’m not interested in a relationship with you, or with anyone for that matter. Especially not now, ok?”

His words echoed in my mind, and the sinking feeling returned. _Yeah, not like I had a chance anyway._

“So please, just give up this ardor you have for me, will you?” Ike continued angrily.

Despite that very clear rejection, the woman’s flirtatious attitude persisted. “You’ll warm up to me eventually, Ikey. And when you do, I’ll be waiting,” she said in a sing-songy voice before disappearing into the night.

The general sighed again. “Man. Another reason to look forward to this war’s end,” he muttered under his breath, and his footsteps started to approach my location rather quickly.

Still feeling crushed from what I heard, I remained as motionless as a statue against the wall.

Ike’s footsteps stopped abruptly once he rounded the corner and noticed my petrified form. “Oh, Serena,” he said, sounding mildly surprised. “What are you doing?” 

Although his voice sounded somewhat tender and warm, mine was monotonous and empty. “Here.” I weakly pulled Aimee’s note out of my pocket and handed it over, keeping my other hand secured on the shadow’s letter. My brain was telling me to speak up and show him that letter immediately, but for some reason, I didn’t yet have the energy to say more than a few words to him or do anything other than stare.

He scanned Aimee’s envelope, and his neutral expression quickly morphed into a scowl. “Damn. This is from _her_ ,” Ike whispered to himself, then raised his volume. “Thanks. Did you get everything else delivered?”

I forced a painful looking smile. “Yep,” I said, handing over the sac as my face reverted to an obvious frown.

Noticing my expression, Ike nearly mimicked it without even realizing. “Something wrong?” He sounded genuinely concerned.

_Yeah. I just eavesdropped on your private conversation and found out that you’re not interested in anyone, so I’m sad that I can never be with the one beorc I actually kinda sorta really like._ “Nah, I’m fine.” _And I have a super scary letter from the guy we’ve been after! I should probably tell him that now._

Something told me he didn’t believe me at all. “You sure? If there’s something bothering you, I’d be happy to help.”

We stood staring at each other in silence for a few seconds before I gathered up enough courage to say something. “Actually, I got a le—”

“Oh wait,” Ike interrupted me at the worst possible time. “I came up with an idea to help you feel more prepared for the battle tomorrow.”

_Oh dammit. I almost forgot about that_ , I thought. Effectively silenced, I lost all my courage once again.

“Follow me.” He turned around and proceeded towards the fort’s entrance.

As I walked just a few feet behind him, I began to grow more restless with each passing second. My mind was screaming at me to try telling him about the letter now, but once again, the rest of me refused to cooperate. I needed to find the right time, and that moment definitely wasn’t it.

Immediately after I had those thoughts, footsteps began approaching us from a nearby tent. They were silent and small, but they had power behind them. “Hello, Ike,” Soren’s cold voice spoke as he slid to the general’s other side. He stared at me with his glowing red eyes, as if he were studying me. Analyzing me. I could almost see the thoughts and judgements populating his head, but he didn’t say a word to me.

Ike stopped in his tracks and looked over at the mage. “Ah, there you are Soren,” he smiled.

_Uh oh. This had better not be what I think it is_ , I thought.

“Serena, how late do you normally stay up?” Ike asked, turning to me.

I glanced at Soren, then at Ike, then worriedly back at Soren. “Depends. I’d say I’ve got another hour or so left in me. Why?”

Ike turned to Soren. “Remember what I told you. Anything you can think to perfect in her would be of great value right now.”

I was right. It was _exactly_ what I thought it was going to be.

Soren stayed silent for a moment. “In just an hour? I don’t even know what I’m working with here.”

Slightly frustrated, Ike sighed. “Trust me, she’s already a good mage. I just want her to be as ready as she can be.”

The red eyed mage stayed quiet again, carefully thinking about his next response. “Alright,” he groaned, closing his eyes. “Let’s go to the training grounds. There are still plenty of people out practicing.” He opened his eyes and glared at me once more.

Clearly they had been talking about me at some point that night, but I had a feeling they had many more conversations about me than I realized. But what about? That was what bugged me the most. What could Ike have possibly said to Soren to make him agree to help me this time?

The three of us walked to the location as I pondered restlessly, and the atmosphere felt incredibly tense. Nobody uttered a word, and I could still feel Soren’s intense focus on me.  
When we reached the wide-open spot, the unnerving feeling grew as the mage separated me from Ike. Rather than accompany us, our general simply stood back and observed us from afar.

Once we were far enough away, Soren turned to me. “You’re an...earth mage, yes? As you may have already seen, I’m a wind mage, so I can’t exactly help you strengthen your powers directly. Instead, I’d like to see your technique.” His eyes locked onto me as he awaited my move.

Nervously, I pulled out my Jörð tome and aimed at the dark grass a few feet in front of us. With a flick of my wrist, the stony spikes shot up from the soil.

“Do it again,” Soren commanded, analyzing my every move like a cat watching its prey.

In an effort to prove myself and impress the mage, I channeled more of my energy into the spell, effectively doubling the amount of rock spikes that appeared from the ground. After the attack, my breath became just a little more labored, and I could feel myself becoming exhausted from the extra effort.

“Why did your spell look stronger that time?” Soren probed.

“Uhh,” I paused, remembering what the other Masters had preached long ago: _magic comes from within._ “I just dedicated more of my focus to the attack,” I said, starting to slouch a little.

Soren’s expression hardened as he power walked right up next to me so he could study my motions more closely. He was practically breathing down my neck at this point. “Try to repeat it.”

I did as he asked, managing to generate quite a few spikes that time, but noticeably fewer than the previous attempt. By the end of the summon, I was literally panting.

“I see it now,” Soren said quietly. “You’re doing it all wrong,” he criticized.

_But this is literally what I’ve been doing forever. How is it wrong?_ I thought to myself, frustrated.

“If you’re truly that good, let’s see if you pick up on this. Watch me first.” Soren stepped away from me and whipped out a Rexcalibur tome: one of the strongest wind tomes out there. After he chanted the words, he didn’t immediately launch the attack like I thought he would. Instead, he charged it up and let it simmer for a brief moment. Then, he unleashed an incredibly powerful blast of wind, sending dead leaves and splinters flying high into the air. Immediately after that, a dim light literally flashed from his eyes, and he attacked again within a split second, with the exact same intensity. And what I found more impressive was that he didn’t even break a sweat.

“How...how did you do that?” I gasped.

Soren closed his tome. “I draw my energy from a different source. It’s one thing to just say your spell and then command the attack. That’s the most basic skill out there. Every mage knows how to do that.” The mage sealed his ruby eyes for a moment. “But most mages don’t improve beyond that level. And that’s why their attacks are weak,” he said condescendingly.

_What does he mean by a different source? Is he subtly calling me weak?!_ I thought.

“You at least know about enhancing your attack’s power by using an energy source, I’ll give you that, but you’re not getting it from the right place,” Soren stated bluntly. “That’s why you get exhausted so easily.”

_Damn, he picked up on everything._ “Well, what do I do, then?”

“You should draw energy from an existing source that’s outside yourself. You only have so much of your own energy to spare, so if that’s all you use, you will never improve, no matter how focused you are.” Soren opened his tome once more. “For example, since I’m using wind magic, I use the air around me as my energy source. Of course I still use some of my own energy, but that only comes in during the final step, after I’ve already drawn in the energy from the air. My body instead acts as a channel rather than the main source.”

Never in all my years as a Master had I heard of such a technique, so listening to Soren talk about it so proficiently and intelligently was incredible and truly eye opening.

“Because you use earth magic, try to draw your energy from the ground, or the plants or something. Allow yourself to become what channels the ground’s energy, not what feeds it.”

His advice resonated with me. Perhaps it was time I defied the teachings of the Masters. Perhaps it was time the ground gave back. So, keeping Soren’s words in mind, I opened Jörð again. At first, I wasn’t sure exactly how I was supposed to accomplish this new technique, but then I thought back to when I was fleeing from the bandits that one time; when I felt some kind of wild energy coursing through my veins from the ground. I was somehow able to run so far and so fast, and climb a seemingly unclimbable tree that day. I opened up my mind, letting the wild flood into me again, and I felt this strange surge within me. An energizing feeling that kept building and building and building...until I cast my spell. This time, gigantic rock spikes, bigger and sharper than I have ever seen them, emerged from the earth with many smaller ones rippling outwards from the attack site. That had never happened before! And even more amazingly, it was almost effortless. _How did I do that?_ I gawked at my own hand, unable to comprehend my power.

I glanced at Soren, and for the first time, he actually looked _shocked_. Mystified. Even Ike looked more amazed than usual.

“That’s the ticket, then,” Soren said. “Do it again.”

Before casting my spell, I looked at Ike, and more recent memories filled my mind. I remembered the day he took me into the forest after I had lost so much faith in my abilities. I felt so weak at that moment, but when he caught my swaying body, it was like I had a new rush of confidence. At the time, it just felt like a sudden warmth, but it may have been more than that. Looking at him again, I felt the same warmth, most of which accumulated within my chest and on my face. Then, when the moment was right, I cast another powerful spell as if it was nothing at all. It was quite literally like magic.

_My powers...better than I’ve ever seen them,_ I thought.

“Excellent,” Soren said. “I honestly didn’t expect that you of all people would be able to do it, especially not this quickly.” His normal, rude self made its return. “Anyway, I’m afraid we’ll have to end this little training session. You should be good for tomorrow. Goodbye.” He skulked away, seeming to be in a hurry to leave.

I wasn’t ready for him to leave yet, however. I wanted to talk to him more. What did he mean he didn’t expect me to do it? Why would he want to try teaching it to me anyway? Where did he learn this brilliant technique? “Wait, I....” It was too late. Soren had already rudely walked off by the time I was able to gather my thoughts. I looked to Ike, who was now walking toward me. “Wh...what was that about? Why did he just walk off like that?” I asked him nervously. Did I do something wrong?

“That’s just him. He gets kind of impatient and cranky when he’s tired.” Noticing my nervous posture, he paused. “But anyway, I’m impressed. How were you able to improve so quickly?” He asked as we started walking back to the fort.

“I’m not sure.” I wasn’t really paying attention to the route we were taking, so if I ever had to find my way back again, I would be screwed. “He told me I had to draw energy from somewhere other than myself, so I kind of tried to refocus my mind, if that makes sense.” It was difficult for me to explain the technique as well as Soren did.

“Refocus your mind?”

“Yeah. Instead of trying to control the earth with just my mind, I had to feel the earth and channel its energy. Also positive feelings amplify it, I think.” Maybe I was only making sense to myself.

“I’m sorry, you lost me.” Ike struggled to comprehend the words that were exiting my oral cavity. To be fair though, if he put a sword in my hand, I wouldn’t have the slightest idea what to do with it. “What kind of positive feelings? Happiness?”

I stopped for a moment. Not exactly happiness. I or anyone around me could be as happy as they wanted, but that never seemed to do anything. Then I thought about that warmth I sometimes felt around Ike. It usually happened when I was at a low point, and it wasn’t something I had ever felt before meeting him. Maybe I was harnessing some other kind of energy without even realizing it. Did my slight feelings for the general (no matter that they were unrequited) somehow allow me to channel energy from him? No, that didn’t seem right. I blushed. “Um...not quite. I...I’m not entirely sure,” my voice quieted.

Before I knew it, we were in front of the door to my bedroom from earlier. We stood in the stone hallway in silence for a brief moment. The large windows on the wall opposite to the bedroom doors allowed moonlight to flood in and softly backlight the general who stood before me. Behind him, the silhouettes of trees danced in the light and cast their shadows onto the stone floor of the hallway.

Ike sighed. “This is it,” he said, calmly looking into my eyes.

“Oh. Uh...” I had to tell him about the letter.

“The stakes are high tomorrow,” he continued.

“Huh?”

“Tomorrow’s battle is the deciding factor. An entire year of effort has come down to this. We can’t lose this.”

“We...uh...we won’t.” I shifted nervously on my feet as I prepared to break the news to him.

“How do you know?” Ike asked, slight concern tainting his normally confident demeanor.

In truth, I didn’t know. I was honestly just as worried as he was, if not more. I didn’t know the enemy nearly as well as Ike did, and the threat from the shadow, I felt, spelled disaster. But despite all that, I thought it would be nice of me to reassure him for once, like he had done for me. “I mean, you guys have come this far. If you can handle all that without losing sight of your goal, I’m sure you can handle what’s to come tomorrow.”

“I know, but...Ashnard. He won’t be like anything we’ve faced so far. Anything could happen, you know. We’re not invincible.” The boy furrowed his brow. “Any one of us could die tomorrow.”

“I don’t wanna die. I don’t want any of you to die either,” I frowned.

“I know. I’m just saying we should all try to be on top of our game and be ready for anything.” The general’s gaze intensified. “Don’t drop your guard under any circumstances.”

“Oh believe me I won’t,” I said, clenching my fist.

“That’s the spirit,” Ike smiled slightly, but I could tell that stress was getting to him. “Anyway, you need your rest. We have some final preparations to make in the morning and we can’t have any slackers, so I expect you to be on your feet by sunrise. That’s in about 7 hours.”

“Jeez ok. I’m pretty tired right now, so falling asleep shouldn’t be too difficult,” I yawned.

“Right. Then I’ll leave you to that. If you need anything, you can find me in the last room down this way, closest to the main hall. Good night.” He nodded.

“Wait,” I suddenly said, feeling my palms begin to sweat.

The boy stopped just as he was about to turn away, and he gazed at me intently. “Hmm? What is it?”

I paused, delicately gripping the shadow’s note between my fingers. “You need to read this. We...we might be in danger.” Pulling the slip of paper out of my pocket, I handed it over to Ike.

He peered down at the letter and quickly snatched it from my hand. Eying the fine ink, his blue orbs raced from side to side, anxiety flashing from within him as the words sunk in. He read it and reread it before letting the note fall from his hands onto the cold stone floor. Then, he looked back up at me. “When did you get this?” he asked sternly, almost as if he was angry at me.

“Today.”

Ike stewed for a moment and shook his head. “I’m quadrupling the amount of guards tonight. We’re not taking any chances at this point.” His voice was overtaken by fury.

“Wh-what’s gonna happen?” I asked nervously.

The boy broke eye contact and scowled down at the ground. “I don’t know. But it’s not going to be good.” He paused. “I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight.”

I glanced at him worriedly. “But...you can’t be tired for tomorrow.”

Ike shook his head again, seeming more frustrated than ever. “It doesn’t matter if I am. I’ll pull through. It’s more important that _you_ get your rest.”

“But...now I’m all scared. I don’t know if I can…”

“Try,” Ike snapped. “I’m going to make sure this fort is well protected. Even if you can’t fall asleep, that’s fine. Just try.”

It was clear to me that his mind was swarming with terrible thoughts, so I calmly obliged to spare him from the extra grief. “Ok,” I said, taking one last look at his stormy eyes before backing away into my room and closing the door behind me. I threw myself into bed and just listened as Ike’s troubled footsteps faded away down the hall. Believing I would never fall asleep, I laid there with my eyes wide open and continued listening for suspicious sounds. But somehow, without me even realizing it, I drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep, completely unaware of what was to come.


	16. Expect the Unexpected

I opened my eyes, and everything was still very dark.

_Why am I awake?_ I thought, tiredly looking around my room. It didn’t take long for me to notice an eerie glow coming from somewhere, faintly creeping in from under my door and through my window. For a good second I thought it was the sunrise, but when the rest of my senses came to, I heard frantic voices in the distance, and more voices getting closer to me. Someone was shouting orders, but I couldn’t tell who it was or what exactly they were saying. Part of me thought it was a dream, but as the voices continued to grow closer, I snapped into fight-or-flight mode.

“No, never! You’ll have to...ngh...get through me first!” It sounded like Ranulf, growling fiercely at an adversary I couldn’t see.

_What’s going on?_ I panicked, feeling my instincts urge me to go out there and help him. In a hurry, I reached for one of my tomes and rushed toward the door, but just then, bursts of orange and green lights flashed outside my room, and a horrific shriek soon followed.

_Thud._ My door shook.

_Oh no, oh goddess no!_ I grasped the doorknob and pushed against the door, but the door would not budge. A heavy weight obstructed it, and I didn’t have nearly enough strength to move it aside.

“No, Serena,” Ranulf voiced feebly. “S...stay insi—” another barrage of orange and green flashes illuminated the hallway. He gasped painfully, and then fell silent.

My heart sunk. _No. Please don’t be dead, Ranulf, please._

More screams pierced the heavy air, and the sound of weapons digging into flesh made my stomach churn.

_What are they doing? What the hell did they do to Ranulf? Please, Goddess, let me help_ , I thought as I desperately pushed against the door with all my might, but to no avail. _Curse my lack of physical strength. Let me out of here!!_ I continued pushing harder and harder as the sound of distant shouts and explosions rumbled the fort, but it was no use. No amount of pleading, tears, or anger was going to help.

“She’s in there, behind the cat!” a mysterious voice yelled.

Then some new voices appeared. I didn’t recognize all of them, but one of them was definitely Ike. He sounded so enraged, even I was terrified of him at that moment, and I couldn’t even _see_ him.

“You bastards will pay with your lives!” he spat with fire in his voice.

More lights flashed within the hallway.

Ike laughed. “You’ll have to try harder than that. Hyaaaaah!” Thud. It sounded like he took down whoever was out there with ease, and I could hear some people run off, but Ike’s voice had moved closer to my door. “Ranulf...you’ll be ok,” he grunted, and I could see shadows shift from under the door. “You’ll be ok.” His words reeked of sorrow.

_Oh my god, what the hell happened? Please don’t be dead, Ranulf_ , I sniffled, standing motionless in front of the door as denial tried its best to swallow up my feelings of fear. As the fierce shouts began to die down and Ike’s labored footsteps faded, I tried to open the door again, and it worked. But I was still petrified as all hell and overly cautious, so I first peeked my head out. Then I stuck one foot out the door and inched out into the hallway once I was 110% sure it was safe. I had only barely exited my room, but I couldn’t bring myself to move any further as the sight before me was horrific at best. Nobody was in the hallway anymore, aside from the corpses of strange mages cloaked in shadowy robes. Scorch marks and burnt blood painted the walls and floor around me, and I stood within a massive pool of crimson that continued to spot the path towards the main hall. And having heard what happened to Ranulf, my fears and feelings of guilt were like shackles, pinning me to the bloodied spot where it all went down. _It’s all my fault_ , I thought to myself.

Outside the large windows, I caught sight of Ike among a crowd of people next to some faint patches of orange embers, and my stomach lurched. I didn’t want him to see me standing and doing nothing, so I shamefully ducked back into my room and sat on the bed, hugging my knees. The longer I sat there, the more I realized that it was less about embarrassment, and more about the fact that I needed to process what had just happened. Something horrible happened to Ranulf. He might have died. The shadow was still after me. And...oh shoot. I sprang up off the bed in fear, as if the shadow was in the room with me. I didn’t see it anywhere, but there was no way to know for sure. One thing was for certain: I had to get to safety. Clutching my tomes, I sprinted out of the fort and through the smoky air towards Ike. He was speaking with Titania when I saw him, but as soon as he noticed me approaching, he quickly wrapped up his conversation with the red-haired woman and dismissed her just before I arrived.

“Serena...I was starting to get worried. Where were you?” Ike scowled down at the blackened earth, avoiding eye contact with me.

“I was in my room but I—”

“Come with me,” he firmly grabbed my arm, and he did NOT sound happy. Understandably so, considering what had just happened.

_Is he mad at me?_ I panicked. _Oh no, he must be, since this is all because of me._

He dragged me back inside the building and straight into his room, which was completely unexpected.

“Um...why are we here, what’s up?” I asked, anxiously awaiting what I expected to be a harsh scolding.

“I need to discuss some things with you. Privately,” he said in a serious tone.

Great, that cleared things up. “M-me? Why me?”

“Because. I…” he paused, as if he was unsure of the reason. “I feel like I can trust you. And I’m not sure who else to turn to in a moment like this,” he continued to avoid eye contact.

I was genuinely confused. “But, weren’t you just talking to Titania? What about Mist or Soren?” I asked, as they were people who were closer to him than I was.

He shook his head. “I can’t talk to Soren or Mist right now. And Titania...I’ve left her in charge of overseeing the troops right now while I figure all this out.”

“Wait, but why can’t you talk to Mist or Soren?”

Ike sighed. “About that. See, Soren...he got badly injured in the attack. He’s unconscious right now and Mist is busy trying to heal him.”

_Damn, Soren too?_ I looked at Ike worriedly. “Oh no, I...I’m so sorry to hear that. I’d help if I could, I...is there anything I can do?” I felt like I was responsible for this mess, so I wanted to make it up to him somehow.

“You’re already helping,” he stated bluntly.

I tilted my head, maintaining my concerned expression. “How?”

“Just by being here. I need to process what just happened and think of a plan to move forward, because we’re in a tricky situation right now with only a few hours to solve it.” He sat down on the bed. “And you have a tactical mind, so I was hoping we could figure something out together.” Then, he looked at me with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

I blushed a little, but I didn’t believe I would be able to help in that sort of way. “Don’t you think a war council or something would be more helpful?” It was almost like I was actively pushing him away, even though I had just agreed to help.

Ike shook his head again, seeming a little frustrated. “No, this isn’t battle strategy.”

I sighed deeply. “Ok. But first I need to know what happened just now.” I took a seat next to Ike but kept a fair amount of distance between us in an effort to keep the talk professional, despite my (most likely unrequited) attraction toward him.

“Hold on, how much of the scene did you witness?” Ike questioned.

“Well, I woke up to some noise, and I...I heard Ranulf outside my door. I heard you come in too and...god please tell me he’s ok,” I whimpered.

“I see. So you woke up around the tail end of the whole thing. Unfortunately I found Ranulf a little too late,” he paused, not knowing how to deliver the news. “When I found him, his wounds were severe.”

“But is he alive? Is he going to be ok?” My chest tightened, imagining Ranulf dead, and how much pain he must have been in. It was hard not to cry while waiting for Ike to say something reassuring.

But he just stayed silent for a moment and gave me a troubled look. After a few torturous seconds, he finally spoke up. “He still had a pulse when I left him with Mist, but we’re not sure if he’s going to make it. The same thing happened to Soren. By the looks of it, they suffered the most severe injuries out of those who didn’t die.”

My voice started to shake. “Oh...oh no. I have to see them. If they die, I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least get to talk to them one last time. Even Soren. He helped me so much.” Tears flooded my eyes as I imagined the worst.

“You can’t. They’re unconscious. And I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to look at them the way they are right now. It will only make you feel worse,” he frowned.

I suddenly felt empty and depressed, feeling everything weighing down on me all at once. It was like I was preemptively grieving even though they were apparently still kind of alive. Nothing is worse than ambiguity when it comes to whether someone will live or die.

Seeming to pick up on my inner turmoil, Ike stood up and faced me, and without a word, he grabbed a hold of my hand and brought me to my feet. The boy gazed at me for a moment before pulling me into a warm hug with one arm, using his other hand to hold my head close to the crook of his neck.

Now that he could no longer see my face, I allowed a few tears to roll down my cheeks as if he would have no way of figuring out I was crying.

“Serena, please, don’t be sad,” he spoke softly. “They’re alive. They’re going to be ok.”

I knew he was just sugarcoating things at that point to make me feel better, but it worked anyway. Even though I was so incredibly sad and scared at the time, that little bit of kindness physically heated my soul and almost immediately calmed me down. The depressing feeling was quickly replaced with a little bit of warmth and hope. It was such a simple action, and I felt like if it had come from anyone else, it wouldn’t have had the same effect.

“Everything is going to be ok,” he said with a voice as smooth and as sweet as honey.

I knew goddamn well that everything might not have been ok, but dammit, I felt compelled to believe whatever he was saying. And considering I had never been that vulnerable and trusting with anybody in the history of ever, he held an incredible amount of power in his hands. He could’ve easily taken advantage of it, but the mere fact that he didn’t was enough to make me melt. And I didn’t want that moment to end. I felt so warm and safe that I almost completely forgot the dire situation at hand.

“Just try not to worry. Let’s focus on what the both of us can do right now, and it’ll all fall into place. I promise.” Ike pulled away from the hug but one of his hands lingered on my arm. Once he realized what he was doing, he quickly retracted it. “Er...sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I would do something like that for my sister as a kid when she’d get upset, so I guess it was just an instinct.”

“O-oh, you didn’t make me uncomfortable,” I blushed as I sat back down on his bed. “It actually helped a lot.” I looked away in embarrassment.

In response, the blue haired boy looked strangely surprised. “Really?” He sat next to me.

“Yeah. I...I feel much better now. Thank you.”

“Well, I’m glad I could help,” Ike paused, presumably trying to remember what we were talking about before. “Ok, so as I was saying, things didn’t go too well. And that blasted shadow probably had something to do with it.”

My heart sank upon remembering that fact. “Oh….right…” I frowned. _It was my fault._

“I honestly have to thank you for showing me that letter,” Ike said. “Had I not been awake to organize a defensive force, we would’ve been in a much worse position.”

_You guys wouldn’t have even had to **deal** with them if I wasn’t here…_

“That said, some of them were able to sneak past us and into the fort without us even noticing.”

I shook my head, frustrated. “I’m sorry, this is such a mess. It’s all my fault,” I cried.

“Enough of that, Serena,” Ike snapped, a deep scowl making its way onto his face. “It doesn’t matter who’s fault it is anymore. It already happened, so let’s just focus on moving forward, ok?”

Looking up at him with surprised, brown eyes, I was slapped in the face with truth and had no choice but to listen. I was being stupid and way too self centered. What kind of Master even was I? There were way bigger things at stake than me! “Alright,” I sighed. “What can I do?”

“Just...talk it through with me,” Ike said. “This wasn’t some run-of-the-mill surprise attack, and I feel like there’s more to it than just the shadow trying to capture you.”

“Why do you say that? The letter was addressed to me only.”

“I wasn’t saying that wasn’t their goal. But when the attack started, they aimed at the tents outside hoping to kill, not capture.”

“So they wanted to inflict casualties too?” I chimed in.

Ike looked at me. “Yeah, seems that way. But they seemed especially focused on defeating Soren and I, too. About eight or ten men tried to gang up on us and managed to reach Soren before I could kill them all.” He paused, then looked away from me. “That’s when he got injured and almost killed.”

“Wait,” I said, scanning Ike’s person without noticing any wounds. “How the hell did _you_ not get injured?”

“Don’t underestimate me,” he chuckled briefly, but his smile quickly faded. “But like we said, you were a target too. There was a group of men inside the fort by the time I got there, saying something about the ‘earth girl’. They were entirely fire mages and spearmen with wind lances.”

“Fire mages and wind lances…” I started. “Hold on. I don’t think those were random choices.”

“What do you mean?” Ike looked at me curiously.

“I mean, it’s possible they could have picked those mages at random in hopes that one type would be effective, but...I’m slightly weaker to wind magic and physical attacks. More than other things. And Ranulf is very weak to fire magic. It’s almost like they knew Ranulf would try to jump in and save me.”

“...I never made that connection,” Ike gasped.

“There’s no way they could have known Ranulf would try to save me unless they knew we were friends. And that could only mean—”

“There was a spy among us after all,” Ike whispered.

Sitting there in silence, I tried to imagine who it could have possibly been. I sifted through my chaotic mind to unearth old memories, and one common thread stood out to me from encounters of the past. “Is there anybody named Kun Jin in this army?” I asked suddenly, surprised at myself that I hadn’t remembered it sooner.

Ike looked at me, confused. “Kun Jin?” He squinted his eyes. “I’ve never heard that name. I don’t think so. Why?”

_Damn_ , I thought. His name had always popped up whenever a group of bandits captured me, so he must have had something to do with them. But a name alone was no use to us if we had no idea who it belonged to. “It’s nothing.”

Ike spared me a confused glance before continuing on. “Alright, anyway,” he said. “Even though they failed to capture you or injure me, we’re still at a big disadvantage.”

‘What else happened?” I asked nervously.

“They also burned most of our supplies. We barely have any food for our soldiers, and the majority of our extra weapons are useless,” Ike answered. “The weapons aren’t a big deal since most people have their own. But...if everyone is fighting on an empty stomach, they aren’t going to be able to fight to the best of their ability. To top it all off, everyone is in a state of disarray because of the chaos and confusion the attackers caused.”

Looking over at Ike, I tried to gauge his feelings, but his face looked the same as it always did, perhaps a little more tense and serious than usual.

“I don’t know what to do about this,” he turned to me, looking for some kind of support.

Then, I saw it. There was a hint of defeat in his ocean blue eyes. It wasn’t much, but it was there. And it was heart-breaking. He had put in so much effort to get to this point in the war only to have this massive obstacle come up at the last second, putting everything in jeopardy when it would count the most. When our eyes met, I felt an immeasurable amount of warmth within me. And that was the very moment when I knew for sure that I didn’t just _like_ Ike, I _loved_ Ike, even though I felt so certain that he didn’t return those feelings. That was a painful thought, but I couldn’t ignore everything that he had done for me up until that point. He saved my life. He protected me. He supported me. God, he didn’t even care that I was branded. It was time that I gave back somehow. _What to do, what to do?_ I panicked as I realized my deeper feelings, desperately trying to come up with a quick and effective solution.

“Can we postpone the battle?” I blurted out first.

“Gahh, no,” Ike shook his head in frustration. “I forgot to tell you that. Some of our hawk scouts returned telling us that a horde of Daein soldiers are headed our way, that’s why we only have a few hours. But with how unnerved and hungry everyone is, I don’t know how we’ll be able to handle it.”

_God damnit_ , I cursed in my head. But suddenly, an idea hit me. I had a solution. I could help Ike...even if it meant making a sacrifice. I breathed in deeply. “We can work around it.”

“How?” Ike scanned my face, as if the answers were written all over it. There was now hope emanating from the very core of his being.

“We...or...you, I should say, can easily boost people’s morale. You’re the leader of this army after all. When the time comes, you should go out there and give everyone a speech. Show everyone how confident you are we can win this. Get them focused on the battle ahead of us.” I smiled with a faint blush coloring my cheeks. “When they see that confidence come through even after what happened, I just know they’ll be motivated again.”

Ike blinked. “Hmm. It’s not like me to do that. But...I suppose I can. Solving one of the two problems is better than nothing.”

“Wait.” I looked down. “I wasn’t finished yet.”

“Hmm?” Ike tilted his head.

“I...I can help with the food problem too. Somewhat. If there are any seeds from untarnished fruits or vegetables, I can use those.”

The general’s eyes widened. “Are you able to grow enough food for a whole army just like that?”

I nodded shyly. “I guess I never told you the extent of my powers. But...I’m not sure if I’m able to do that yet. I’ve only just started to recover my old strength.” I looked away from the boy.

Ike shifted a little closer to me, just enough so that I could feel the bed dip a little bit to my left. “You don’t have to push yourself,” he reassured me. “Anything, no matter how small, will help us a ton.”

Suddenly, a thought popped into my brain, causing me to smile, then giggle. It was probably the worst time to be giggling in the history of mankind, especially since the thing I was thinking about wasn’t even that funny, either!

The boy next to me chuckled nervously. “Uh...what’s so funny?”

“So...even if I grew one single tomato and we gave a tomato cell to each person, that would help?” my giggly self sputtered.

Ike closed his eyes and sighed. “Come on, Serena. You know what I meant,” he said in a serious tone.

I stopped giggling pretty quickly after hearing his tone, and a dour mood rapidly overtook my previously jovial attitude. “I know, I know. I will do what I can.” When Ike didn’t say anything in response, I fearfully turned to him, anticipating being shamed for giggling about a tomato. But I was met with a much more tender gaze than I expected. He looked at me with a softness that I had never seen from him before, and his eyes told me he was happy, perhaps because I offered to do such a big favor for him.

“Thank you, Serena. You have no idea how much this helped me.” He looked away for a moment and stood up, then fixed his gaze on me once more. “There’s something else I want to discuss with you, but that’s going to have to wait. For now, we need to put our plan into action. If you need anything else, we can talk about that quickly. Otherwise, we should head out now.”

I knew it would be very selfish of me to want to continue my private talk with the general considering the circumstances. I wanted to talk to him about a million different things, but only one of those things was relevant at the time. “Actually...” I started.

Attempting to feed an entire army in my current state was risky, maybe even impossible. I had only learned Soren’s energy technique the night before, so I definitely hadn’t mastered it yet. Not nearly enough to be able to effectively apply the technique to my growing capabilities, since there was no way it could work identically to attacking. With attacks, I wasn’t providing the land with anything. On top of that, the last time I used my plant growing powers, it barely worked. So if I was going to accomplish something of this magnitude, I would need some form of energy that wasn’t the land. “I need some support while I try to grow the food,” I spoke.

“I’ll be there with you,” Ike responded without a second thought.

“Ok then. I’m ready.”


	17. Saving Grace

After Ike and I talked over the semi-rushed plan from earlier, the two of us headed back outside where a fair amount of people were gathered. The remaining fires had been put out, so it looked darker outside than it was before, especially since the sun had yet to rise. People were watching us as we headed over to the food storage area, but we paid them no mind. We were more focused on the catastrophe in front of us: smoke was still leaking out of the stone building that stored our food, and from the looks of it, everything inside was completely burnt and unusable.

“Well, this is worse than I thought,” I whispered under my breath as I gawked at the complete wreck of a storage room. Piles of glowing ash and singed wood were everywhere, and all the stone surfaces of the room were blackened by the fires that had ravaged our supplies.

“Our best bet is to look toward the middle. If we’re lucky we’ll be able to find usable seed,” Ike said.

It looked like it would be a grueling task, and I wasn’t hopeful we would find anything, but I knew we had to at least try. So, we started sifting through the rubble, and any hint of something that wasn’t black or gray powder felt like finding real gold in a vein of pyrite. By the end of our back-breaking search, we came up with only a few kernels of corn, three half-burnt tomatoes, a couple varieties of bean, and one apple with partially burned skin. There was probably more somewhere in the ash piles, but time was limited.

“So, you’re telling me you can feed everyone? With just this?” Ike raised his eyebrows after looking at our measly collection of food scraps. It was understandable that he still had doubts.

“Yes. I can, and I have,” I tried to reassure him, but the only way to prove it would be to actually put my words into action. “We just need to find a spot of open land, pronto.” Quickly, I grabbed some burnt shards of wood leaning against the back walls of the building, and we bolted out the doorway.

Fortunately for us, we were adjacent to a wide field that was just beyond a small section of trees. The moonlight softly illuminated the sea of grass before us, and crickets chirped gently in the distance. A slightly cooler breeze wafted past us, giving us a brief sensation of peace. Like the calm before the storm.

“Will this do?” Ike turned to me and asked, but I’m sure he already knew the answer.

I smiled. “Oh, this will do alright. But we can’t grow anything the way things are right now.” It would be impossible to grow anything when grass was already taking up all the space. So we had to get rid of it somehow. “We need fire mages.”

Ike looked confused. “What?”

“No questions. We need fire mages, stat!”

With that, the general was off, and he promptly returned in mere minutes with some random people I didn’t recognize. But I didn’t need to know them for what we were about to do next. The plan was to burn up a large section of grass in the field so that we’d not only have space for other plants, but we’d also be able to use the ash from the old plants as an excellent fertilizer. It was genius! But I realized we’d also need wind mages to spread the fire faster, so I had to send Ike running again.

Once we had everyone we needed, it was go time. The fire mages sent plumes of glowing flames into the grass, and then the wind mages sent powerful streams of wind over the fire, causing it to dance in the breeze and grow to amazing heights. It ripped across the field like some unstoppable beast.

“Uh...how do we put this out?” Ike asked over the roar of the flames.

“Uhh,” I panicked. It was then that I realized I didn’t think that far ahead, so I basically had to make something up on the spot and hope it worked, otherwise we were all doomed. “A ton of Blizzard spells,” I suddenly said. “We need all we’ve got.” I figured that if enough ice covered the fire, we would put the fire out _and_ generate some water to help grow the plants. Another genius idea!

Immediately, Ike was off once again and returned with a small brigade of wind mages who were all equipped with Blizzard tomes.

They stood shoulder to shoulder and launched massive pillars of ice into the blazing fields. As soon as the ice made contact with the fire, enormous clouds of thick steam engulfed the area, swallowing up the raging orange glow. Slowly but surely, the glow dissipated, succumbing to the darkness of the early morning, and leaving behind nothing more than a charred slush. The smell of smoke still lingered in the air for a little bit longer, but the ambient winds eventually carried it away.

I sighed, relieved that my last-minute plan had gone off without a hitch.

“Is everything set?” Ike asked eagerly.

I looked at the pieces of wood I held in my hand. “Not yet,” I responded as I walked over to the border of the singed earth. Taking the wood, I plunged each piece into the ground in evenly spaced intervals and planted a different type of seed in front of each one. Then, I returned to Ike and nervously sucked in my breath. “Ok. I’m ready,” I said to him, leading him over to the leftmost piece of wood where I had planted the corn kernels.

But as we approached the spot, I didn’t feel ready at all. My heart rate noticeably accelerated at the thought of growing an entire field of crops; I had no idea if I was actually going to be able to do it. In the past, I had only really grown crops while I was imprisoned by the bandits and forced to do it, and only while I had the anklet. I had never tried to do such a thing before the bandits first captured me. Now, all I could think about was bandits. Unwanted memories of them flashed through my mind as I crouched on the ground in front of the buried corn kernel, and intense feelings of fear swept over me like a wildfire over a dry field.

Ike knelt down beside me. “How long will this take?” he asked innocently. When I didn’t respond, he glanced over at me with a worried expression. “Something wrong?”

The sound of his concerned voice snapped me out of my terrifying trance. “I...it’s just that…” I struggled to get my thoughts out. My experience with the bandits was still an extremely touchy subject for me, but if there was anyone I truly trusted with my feelings, it was Ike. As soon as I reminded myself of this, words spilled out of me. “It’s just, I haven’t ever had to do this outside of those awful bandit camps.” I looked away and remembered the many times I had collapsed from exhaustion, nearly dying after cultivating fields upon fields of crops, and it never ended. Troubled by the thoughts, I curled my fists around the slushy soil below me.

Upon noticing my turmoil, the young man’s gaze softened. He placed his arm around my shoulders cautiously, as if he expected me to lash out in response to his touch or something. But when my muscles instead started to relax, I felt his grip around me tighten just enough to make me feel secure. “Remember, you’re not with those dastardly swines anymore.”

I blushed nervously, laughing a little at his description of them. Then, that familiar warmth started flooding my body again. _Don’t let go._

“You’re with me now,” he said gently. “You’re capable of more than you realize, Serena. And I’m telling you this not as your general, but as a friend. I’ve watched you come this far.” He stopped talking, waiting until I looked him square in the eye. “I believe in you.”

His powerful words struck me with inspiration and a sense of awe. It was almost too much to handle, so I turned away and gazed ahead for a moment.

I noticed the first, faint blue light of day was beginning to paint over the stars and the blackness of night above. The sun would soon follow, meaning that we hadn’t the time to waste. So I turned to Ike again and remembered his words. I saw in his eyes that he truly cared, and that reminded me of why I was at the field in the first place. I had to do this, and the only way I could was if I put those silly fears behind me. At least for the time being.

 _Screw the bandits. They mean nothing now. They don’t define me,_ I thought to myself. Then, I shifted my focus back to the ground below. Inhaling sharply and raggedly, I rested my palms over the spot where I planted the corn as Ike watched.

A faint glow, reminiscent of early morning sunlight, appeared underneath my palms. And almost instantly, a small green stub pushed up and appeared through the blackened slush. The stub rapidly developed into a single, healthy corn plant right in front of our very eyes. For a moment, I ceased the glow to analyze my work.

Ike looked up at the plant in awe, reaching out to touch its bright green leaves with his free hand, almost like he couldn’t quite believe the reality in front of him.

And just then, the sun peeked above the horizon as if to observe my handiwork as well. It cast its pale, glimmering rays onto our faces and touched the wide expanse of land ahead. As pretty as it all was, this was no time to relax or admire its beauty, however. I still had a lot to do, and the worst was still yet to come.

Once more, I faced the ground and fed it whatever energy I could find. Seconds later, the corn plant darkened and rotted, scattering all its kernels on the ground and eventually disappearing into the soil. Many green stubs then started sprouting from the ground, and all of them quickly grew into new corn plants.

“Wow,” Ike muttered under his breath. “You’re doing great, Serena.”

Despite his kind words, I didn’t think I was doing great at all. I was going too slow, and it was going to take forever if I continued that way, so I had to pick up the pace.

 _I know how to do this,_ I thought. _I need more energy._

I didn’t have enough energy within me to do it all, yet somehow, my magic was still working better than ever. Radiant energy was flowing through me from somewhere, and it felt powerful. It wasn’t a wild kind of energy from the earth, it was more warm and comforting.

“If you need me to do anything,” Ike said suddenly. “Let me know.”

My heart pounded at his words, pumping what I knew was _his_ energy through _my_ veins. “Just...stay where you are,” I beamed. Then, my face hardened as I focused it all into the ground, and the golden glow beneath my palms intensified. It started to expand beyond my palms, and swirled around the kernels and parts of the field in front of me. The growth of the corn began to accelerate tenfold, with plants maturing and rotting, flashing between life and death faster than we could process it. Within mere minutes, there was a messy row of corn plants stretched out all the way to the far end of the burnt field. For a moment, I halted the flow of energy so I could check my progress, and I smiled. I had done quite a lot more than I anticipated, and much to my surprise, it felt nearly effortless.

“That...that was amazing,” Ike said as he stared at the corn.

“I...I guess,” I responded sheepishly. “But we’re not done yet. We still have all the other plants to take care of.”

Ike removed his arm and stood up, taking his heat with him. Then, he looked down at me. “Well, if you feel ready, we don’t have time to lose,” the boy said before taking my hand and pulling me to my feet.

As the early morning progressed, the sun crept higher and higher, showing off the field as it continued to fill up with succulent plants. Little did I realize, my work had started to attract crowds of people that began gathering behind us. They watched the ever-growing field with wonder, like children standing in front of piles of presents or candy. They watched the ribbons of golden light dance around the crops and shimmer in harmony with the morning sun. The drops of dew that coated the grass around the premises captured the light, glittering like a sky full of stars. Everyone whispered amongst themselves as they observed the miraculous display.

Despite the beauty and splendor of the scene, however, I grew progressively weaker.

The last batch of plants was apple trees, which took much more energy to grow than the others. Growing the last of them felt much like the final sprint at the climax of a marathon, and by the end, I felt so weak that the final push completely wiped me out. But it was nothing compared to what I felt with the bandits. Instead of feelings of depression and desperation, I felt _proud_ and _accomplished_. The fruits of my labor that stood tall before me were the result of my own desire to help, not the selfish desires of others.

 _I did it_ , I smiled weakly.

“Are you ok? You look a little pale.” Ike’s voice sounded a little muffled and distant.

Barely registering Ike’s voice, I didn’t respond.

My delirious and unresponsive state must have been quite obvious to Ike, so rather than continuing to speak, he carefully helped me to my feet and allowed me to lean on him a little bit so I didn’t topple over.

Once I was able to (mostly) stand on my own, we turned around, and only then did we notice the massive crowd of people behind us. And let me tell you, there were a _lot._ I noticed a few heron laguz mixed in with the crowd as well, and assuming they witnessed my handiwork, they probably could have guessed the source of my unique powers. As for the others, who knows what they were thinking.

All of a sudden, a fast moving, red blur appeared within the mass of people, revealing itself to be Titania. She pushed her way through the crowd and ran up to the both of us, panting. “Ike, Serena, what’s going on?” Her focus shifted between the both of us, waiting for one of us to answer.

“We’ve been saved,” Ike spoke up.

She looked confused, but once she took one look at the glorious sight behind us, her eyes widened in amazement. A hopeful smile appeared on her face, and her green eyes sparkled. “How did…”

“It was Serena,” he interrupted. “She did this all by herself.”

Titania beamed at me. “You have given us more hope than you realize. We must repay you for this somehow.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do anything,” I mumbled weakly. “It was my pleasure.”

“Are you sure?” She seemed confused. “This was no small thing you did for us.”

I shook my head. They had done more than enough for me already.

“You heard the girl,” Ike spoke on my behalf. “Actually, would you mind rounding up the rest of the troops for a moment? Bring them here. I have to speak with them.”

Titania looked back at the crowd which had started to scatter, then she glanced back at Ike. “Just like your father would have done,” she said with a smile before running off.

We could hear her shouting orders, saying something or another off in the distance. The people in front of us were chatting amongst themselves now.

“Should I stand with the crowd?” I asked Ike sheepishly.

“Depends,” he said. “If you don’t want to be in the spotlight, I can understand that. But I honestly didn’t plan on giving a speech to everyone, and you helped us a lot, so I’d prefer if you stayed up here.”

I thought it would be kind of odd for me to just be standing here, unless he wanted me to speak too. The thought of that made my blood run cold. I’d rather be dead than speak in front of thousands of people! “Do I have to speak?”

“No, but I wanted to mention you. After all, you’re the reason we’re in a better position after what happened. People should know that.”

There wasn’t much time for me to decide, since the crowd was rapidly growing. A huge part of me wanted to run out of fear, but I ended up doing the exact opposite of my instinctual reaction. “I’ll stay,” I said.

“Thank you,” Ike nodded simply in response.

Just then, Titania shouted something. I couldn’t tell what she was saying, but I think it was meant to get everyone’s attention. She made her way to the front and stood watching.

As for me, I stood by Ike’s side, eagerly waiting to see his leadership in action.

Ike cleared his throat, shifting his attention to the enormous crowd in front of us. A drop of sweat glistened on his brow. He looked...nervous? “Um...hey,” he said awkwardly.

 _Well, that wasn’t the opener I expected_ , I thought.

“I’m sure most, if not all of you, are aware of what happened here just a couple hours ago.” His voice sounded slightly more confident now. “There was an attack that none of us saw coming. From what we can tell, it was a well-planned assault most likely ordered by one of King Ashnard’s men with the help of a spy. They burned our supplies. Harmed our comrades. And I can tell that many of you have lost some faith in our ability to succeed.” He paused. “But I’m here to tell you that we’re far from defeated.”

Ike continued on. “First, despite our tarnished supplies, hunger will no longer be an issue going into battle.” Suddenly, he grabbed my hand and raised my arm into the air. “This young woman has single-handedly replenished our lost supply of food, and then some.”

I blushed. _Oh no, all eyes are on me._

The people broke out into a quiet chatter, seemingly amazed by what they were hearing. And instead of the looks of scorn and disapproval I would sometimes be met with throughout camp, they gazed at me as if I were a hero.

“The field you see behind us is the result of her hard labor, to provide for all of you, the people who will bring us to victory.” He lowered my arm and let go of my hand.

I looked down and stared at Ike’s shoes, hoping he wouldn’t stay focused on me for too long.

And as if he could read my mind, he immediately moved on with his speech.

“Second, I would like to remind you all that we’ve come this far for a reason. We’ve come this far because of all of your efforts. We’re a force to be reckoned with.” Ike’s tone grew fiercer with every word. “We didn’t come all this way just to give in to some measly surprise attack. We’re better than that.” He paused and took a deep breath.

The crowd watched intently, and Titania clasped her hands together as she looked at Ike with pride in her eyes.

“So before this battle, there’s one more thing I want to tell all of you. After a year of fighting alongside each other, we have become a family. Beorc, laguz...it doesn’t matter to me because we are all fighting for the same cause: to liberate Crimea! That is why I...I don’t want any of you dying on me!” Ike exclaimed. “To lose any one of you would be like losing a brother or a sister.”

 _Oh Ike…_ I thought as his words touched my soul.

“So if you don’t want to let your family down, then live! Fight each enemy and each battle like the lives of all your brothers and sisters depend on it, because we cannot let Daein prevail! So today, let us all do what we set out to accomplish one year ago. We can do this. Together!” Ike confidently raised his fist in the air.

The Crimean Army followed suit, erupting in cheers and exuberant shouts. I could almost see the hope return to each of their faces.

“Now!” Our general shouted, temporarily halting the cheers. “Let’s make the most of the time we have left before battle and prepare for what’s to come! You can all help yourselves to the food and fit in whatever training you need to do. And of course, if any of you have any questions or concerns, you can find me in the training grounds shortly. Thank you all for your time.” Ike ended his speech with a brief wave, and he sighed heavily when it was all over.

Instantly, the chatter and excitement resumed, and Titania and a few others began barking more orders, I think to help keep too many people from rushing to the field at once.

“Uh...should I do the same thing as them?” I asked tiredly.

“No,” Ike replied.

“No?”

“We have a couple of hours before we meet the first wave of Daein soldiers. You need to regain your strength, so you’re going to use this time to rest,” he ordered.

 _I get to sleep? Oh thank the goddess_ , I breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, ok. That works, I guess,” I tried hiding how happy I was about it.

“Mhmm,” was his reply. “I’ll get Shinon and Gatrie to guard your room, just in case anything happens.”

 _Gatrie?! Really?!_ I thought. _I mean, I won’t have to talk to him, so I guess it’s alright._ “Ok,” I shrugged.

“I’ll take you back.”

I followed Ike closely as he pushed through the scattering crowd, and I waited until we were past the other soldiers to speak up. “By the way, you did really good back there.”

“Hmm? You think so?” He seemed surprised.

“Yeah. I mean, everyone was cheering. Even I got so motivated I almost don’t want to sleep right now.” I smiled a little.

Ike chuckled. “I’m honestly not that great with words, but thank you.”

I could swear I saw a little blush appear on his normally stoic face, but it could’ve been my tired brain imagining things.

“Not that great with words?! How preposterous!” I said playfully. “You’re a sWORDsman after all.”

Ike’s eyes widened in surprise. “Off to bed with you, crazy girl.”

I rolled my eyes as we entered my room, then I took a seat on my bed.

“Rest well, Serena. I’ll come wake you up half an hour before we depart, and I’ll save some food for you,” he said.

As if I wasn’t tired enough, Ike’s softened tone made it nearly impossible to stay awake, and I could feel myself starting to nod off.

“Oh, one more thing.” Ike turned around, forcing me to stay awake just a little bit longer.

“Hmm?” My voice was weak and tired.

“I...I want you to fight alongside me today.” He looked away.

Some of my tiredness faded upon hearing those words, but I was still only half-processing what he had said. “Me? Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yes,” he nodded. “But now isn’t the time for questions. Sleep well.” He hurried out of my room, allowing me to finally rest my weary head and silence the thoughts that were swarming my mind.


	18. Mastery of War

A very firm knocking sound jolted me awake. After quickly fixing my slightly messed up hair, I opened the door to see that familiar handsome face. “Are we leaving soon?” I asked stupidly.

“Relatively,” Ike said. “Most of us are done with our training and just need to mentally prepare.”

I rubbed my eyes tiredly and yawned. “What should I do, sir?”

Ike raised an eyebrow. “You’re coming to the boardroom with me.”

“For what?”

“You’ll see.”

Luckily, the boardroom wasn’t very far from my room, so we didn’t have to walk much to get there. And thankfully, there weren’t masses of people in there like I (for some dumb reason) expected, so it was just the two of us still.

Once I had entered the room, Ike closed the door behind us and then took a seat across from me at the long table in the middle.

“You’ll need this,” he said, handing me some food wrapped crudely in cloth.

I kindly thanked him before ravenously digging into it. But as I bit into a juicy apple, Ike started to talk, so I made sure to chew as quietly as possible so I could listen.

He reminded me that I was going to be partnered with him for today’s battle since both of our partners were still too weak to fight. As such, there was a desperate need for us to discuss our strategy before the first wave of Daein soldiers arrived. Thanks to the pressure of time and our strategic minds, we were able to come up with a viable course of action in just a few minutes of brainstorming. It all started with Ike mentioning something about how my fighting style was similar to Soren’s, so I figured we wouldn’t actually have to change much at all. Thus, our master plan was to fight like normal, except I would have to work extra hard to follow his direction and stay close by; something that had greatly challenged me up until that point.

After making sure we both understood what was expected of us, we were as ready as we could be, and we exited the boardroom.

Upon exiting the small fort, the bright light of the morning nearly blinded me, but I made sure that I didn’t lose track of Ike as I followed him through the masses of people around us. Some were still eating, some were laughing, but most were clearly focused on the impending battle. Their faces were stone cold beneath their gleaming white and gold helmets, and their strong and valiant postures masked their overpowering fears.

Finally, we positioned ourselves in front of a pathway that passed through the trees, and the rest of the soldiers gathered behind us. Everything felt so pleasant and serene, it was almost unbelievable that an army of enemy soldiers was just around the corner from where we were. Just thinking about it was enough to make me tremble a little.

Ranulf’s confidence and cheerfulness would have helped me out so much, but thinking of him only made me feel worse. And...oh shoot, how could I forget that I was about to partake in a battle that would decide the fate of an entire country and all its people? And I was going to be in the frontlines of all places, alongside THE General Ike, probably the greatest general in all of Tellius.

_How the hell did this happen?_ I thought to myself with wide eyes staring straight ahead.

As I continued to lose myself in my own head, Titania and some other semi-familiar people joined us near the front and stood at attention. Then, Ike turned around to face them all and addressed them in an authoritative tone, commanding the attention of everyone, including my very distracted self.

“Alright, everyone,” he shouted. “This is it! Let’s give it all we’ve got and bring us to victory, together!”

The army cheered fiercely just like they did earlier that morning, and they raised their weapons in the air.

“Crimean Army, move out!” Ike commanded before whipping around and beginning the grand march up the trail.

I tried to match Ike’s pace, but it felt so...unnatural being up there with him, like I didn’t belong there. I wanted to talk to Ike to perhaps calm myself down a little bit, but my nerves got the best of me, so I opted to remain totally silent. I noticed that Ike seemed caught up in his thoughts for a while, too, so I didn’t feel like bothering him. As we pushed onward through the dense trees of the forest, however, it was almost impossible for us to resist saying _some_ thing to each other.

“Hey, Serena,” Ike said suddenly.

Snapping out of my trance, I turned to face him. “Huh?”

“You know...there’s not much time left before we meet the Daein army.”

_Ok?_ I thought. I already knew that, so I just gave him a confused look as I didn’t know how else to respond.

Picking up on that, he continued. “This is probably the last chance we have to talk until afterward...whenever that may be.”

“Oh shoot, you’re right,” I said stiffly. _Oh **shoot**_ , the realization hit me. “What if there is no afterward?”

Sighing deeply, Ike directed his eyes toward the shady ground below. “Don’t think like that,” he said. “There’s going to be an afterward. I’ll make sure of it.”

Unfortunately, his words didn’t quite quell my worries. “Don’t die,” I whispered.

“Listen,” he clenched his jaw. “If I die, it won’t be in vain. But I’m not worried about that.”

“Are you worried about _any_ thing?” I asked.

“Yeah. I am,” he replied promptly. “It’s no use talking about it now though. Just...let’s just make this fight count.”

Ike’s attention shifted almost immediately once we cleared the forest and exited into a wide expanse of grassland. And when I lifted my eyes, I saw exactly why.

_Holy hell_ , I thought.

A massive sea of glistening black armor completely coated the area in the distance, and they were all headed our way. Fast. If I was correct, we only had about twenty minutes until weapons would clash and soak the earth with blood.

“Everyone, prepare yourselves!” Ike yelled. “The Daein Army is about to be upon us!”

“Ahhh I’m not ready,” I cried instinctively as I gawked at the insane amount of fighters ahead of us.

Instantly, Ike faced me. “Yes you are,” he retorted. “You’re more ready than you’ve ever been, and you know that.”

“How...how can you be so confident?” I asked, nearly tripping on a wad of grass. “Are you not even a little bit nervous?”

Ike’s expression was stone cold now. “No. Not anymore. Now that they’re in front of us, I can just focus on defeating them. Nothing else seems to matter.”

I glanced at the approaching soldiers that were now only about a mile away from us, then back at Ike with wide, disbelieving eyes. “That’s very admirable, but...are you blind?”

Ike shook his head. “I’m not denying this looks tough, and we’ll probably face many casualties. But...we’re going to win this,” he said, drawing Ragnell.

The threat of the once distant army grew exponentially as they marched ever closer, and once they were only about a half mile from us, the sheer size of their forces fully sunk in.

“Alright everyone! The time has come!” Ike yelled out and pointed his shining blade at the opposing army. “This ends today!”

Upon our general’s shout, the enemy soldiers riled themselves up, and thousands of their screams shook the air. They picked up their speed from a fast-paced walk up to a full charge ahead, and before I knew it, the first moments of the final battle were underway.

Ike smashed his blade against the sword of the leading soldier with incredible force as other Dain soldiers around us targeted the rest of our men. “Come on, Serena! Stay behind me!” he yelled over the incredible noise of metal and shouts, and dashed forward, effortlessly cutting through countless more soldiers.

Hearing his command, I sprinted up behind him, making sure to never stray more than a few feet away. Being so close to him then, I realized that I never got the chance to observe him fighting at his full potential before, and my god. The boy was just an unstoppable god of war; a killing machine, mercilessly plowing through his enemies. Armored knights, soldiers, laguz, everything fell if they stood in his path. I bet he could have taken on the entire Daein army by himself, he was that fearsome.

It also quickly became apparent to me that we fought so well together. Don’t get me wrong, Ranulf and I had made a pretty good team, but alongside the general, everything just seemed to flow naturally. Our fighting styles were complementary, and we were perfectly in sync with each other's movements. We covered each other’s weak points, saw things that the other missed, and it was like...somehow...we were connected on a mental level.

As we continued our onslaught, however, both of us came to realize that we were able to wipe out such a large number of Daein soldiers more easily than we anticipated. And that was the thing: it was a little _too_ easy. We knew we weren’t _that_ much stronger than them.

“Ike,” I grunted as I cast an earth spell at a group of soldiers off in the distance. “Where’s the King? Where are the generals? This can’t be it!”

We had made it over halfway through the field of fighters, but we had yet to encounter a real challenge. They had nothing more than the weakest of weaponry, the weakest of armor, and skill sets far below our own.

“This _isn’t_ it,” Ike snarled as he sliced open a few more enemies. “These are clearly just Ashnard’s pawns!”

My heart sank. After already wiping through thousands of soldiers single handedly and casting hundreds of my spells, I was beginning to feel exhaustion build up. Knowing that we weren’t even close to the end just made everything worse.

“We just need to...nghh...get through this wave,” Ike said, preemptively shielding me from the attack of a spearman. “Once we do, we can get to Castle Crimea and I’m certain they’ll all be there.”

I groaned, continuing to stick by Ike for safety.

“Bear with me, Serena,” he glanced at me through the glaring sunlight with care in his eyes. “Don’t cast as many spells, I want you to save your strength until we really need it.”

“But—”

“I’ll cover for you!” he raised his voice as he pulled me in even closer to save me from the downstroke of an iron sword.

Soon enough, we were able to cut through the ocean of weaklings with few casualties, and the castle appeared on the horizon. There were no more soldiers in between us and our destination, so we knew that once we arrived, the worst of the battle would soon follow. It was daunting, but there was no turning back. We’d have to use whatever energy we had left to take down whoever, or _whatever_ was waiting for us.

As we neared the Crimean Royal Palace, a few guards at the gate tried to stop us, but they were quickly vanquished by Ike. And in a last-ditch effort before meeting their untimely demise, the dying soldiers yelled out to the rest of the Daein army to alert them of our arrival.

So when we all poured in through the massive gates, our new enemies all stared at us with no amount of surprise or fear in their frigid eyes. They stood motionless in their places, like statues, and that alone was frightening. It was like they knew, or at least thought, they could crush us in the blink of an eye and were just entertaining our idea that we even had a chance.

As scary as our opponents were, however, our new battlefield was probably one of the prettiest places I’ve ever been to. There were square gardens decorating the area out front, two on each side of a stone enclosure in the middle containing a beautiful fountain, still flowing with crystal clear water. Further back, there were 3 sets of stairs leading up to the front entrance of the palace, with rectangular gardens on either side of the central staircase.

We walked up to the courtyard, returning our enemies’ glares, and it was now clear that Daein had saved their best men for last after wearing us down for the entire morning. They were all dressed in fearsome armor and fancy clothes with powerful weapons to match. By their stances, you could tell straight away that they were far more skilled than the grunts from earlier.

And at the very back of the arena, I caught sight of the most fearsome man I have ever seen in my life. He wore black armor that appeared to glow, and his royal blue hair was slicked back, with thin sideburns hugging his face. And, ohh his face, it was the definition of terror. He had this unforgettable, sinister grin that chilled me to the bone. He was the embodiment of evil. Then, I noticed the thing he was perched on. It didn’t look like any mount I’d seen before. It was a large, black, spikey dragon with blood-red accents, and just looking at it made my head twinge.

For a brief moment, there was silence. Nobody was making a move, but it was obvious to us that if we didn’t do anything, this battle would amount to nothing more than a staring contest. So, Ike did the honors by pointing his sword at the man on the dragon and hurled out words to provoke the other side.

“Daein, your time has come!” he yelled furiously. “The Crimean Army will show no mercy, and you will all fall at our hands!” His voice echoed through the courtyard and bounced off the palace, ringing through the ears of the entire army in front of us.

The man in the back sneered, but he did not move an inch.

However, some of the enemy warriors started to glow upon hearing our general’s shouts. Brilliant white light engulfed their figures as they morphed into enormous red dragons that towered over everyone.

“Oh goddess,” I whispered, gawking at the newly transformed dragon laguz.

Then, the other Daein soldiers shifted their positions. Their once blank expressions turned into deep scowls, and they bore their savage teeth at us. Their arms twitched, and suddenly, without any orders from their leader, their entire bodies sprang to life as they charged forth, beginning the second wave of the battle.

This time, our enemies were a force to be reckoned with. It felt about ten times more difficult to fend them off, and both of us were already starting to work up a minor sweat. Even worse was that more of our allies were succumbing to their injuries, and I never knew if I would be one of them.

_This is no joke_ , I thought as I dodged three separate fire spells that were hurtling in my direction.

I locked my sights on the three fire mages responsible for the attack, but something else stole my focus. _Five_ something elses, to be precise. I squinted in the sunlight to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me, and unfortunately, they weren’t.

“Ike!” I gasped, pointing as he decapitated about four Daein soldiers.

“What is it?” he grunted, still facing ahead.

There I saw Arvid, Branson, Ylva, Torvald, and Helga: five of the other six Masters. They stood side by side within the enemy’s forces and began to attack _our_ allies. Where was Solfrid? But more importantly, what on earth were the five of them _doing_ there?

Torvald raised his arms to the sky, causing dark clouds to quickly move in. Flashes of light began cracking through the sky, producing low rumbles of thunder that shook the battlefield. Seconds after that, torrential rain poured down on the scene, and terrifying bolts of electricity began obliterating Crimean soldiers left and right.

“Torvald!” I tried shouting over the chaotic battle cries and crashes of thunder. The mage heard me, and so did the other four by his side, but none of them responded. In fact, they didn’t even seem to remember who I was.

“Serena, what’s going on?” Ike yelled, shifting his eyes to where I was looking. He spotted the mages just in time to witness Ylva morph and grow into a fierce, red serpentine dragon, flying high and striking down anybody within her reach. Then, he saw the others casting spells that neither him nor his allies had ever seen before. If they weren’t stopped, the unexpected nature of their attacks would put everyone on our side at a great disadvantage.

“Those five!” I pointed at the Masters again. “Don’t kill them, Ike! Please!” I cried out, practically begging the boy as we rushed in toward them.

“Why not?” He sounded surprised. “They’re taking down our men!”

Ike was still unaware of the role they played in my life. They were the main reason I was as strong as I had become. They were like a long lost family to me. But the middle of an important battle was the absolute worst time to explain something like that, so I failed to answer his question. I figured there had to be another way to save them from certain death, and at the same time, save our allies from their wrath.

I thought I could maybe reach them and try to talk some sense into them, but that quickly became an impossibility. Arvid had noticed our presence and took control of a nearby tree, sending its tall, thick trunk toppling down in front of them. Other Daein soldiers blocked our path around the tree, so we couldn’t get any closer.

_Damn, there must be a way around! Or perhaps over!_ I thought.

Suddenly, the bark and foliage of the fallen tree became encased in a thick, impenetrable wall of ice, as did the ground around it.

_Oh shoot, I know that technique!_ Helga had frozen the tree, and I knew that Arvid would usually hurl it forward to not only steamroll everyone in front of it, but also leave behind a trail of super cold ice that would freeze anyone who was dumb enough to walk over it. I had to prevent that devastation somehow!

“Ike watch out!” I screamed before summoning a rippling wave of rock spikes through the frozen tree, sending pointy shards of ice and plant matter flying in all directions. Reacting to my sudden command, Ike shielded himself and me from the shrapnel. Some of our allies followed suit, but others weren’t so lucky. The sharp debris impaled a bunch of people within range, comrades and enemies alike.

After the glittering powder from the tree’s destruction had cleared, it was apparent that the Masters were some of the unlucky ones. Since they were so close to the attack, ice shards had embedded themselves in various parts of their bodies. My heart sank when I realized that only four of them were left standing after the frosty explosion.

Branson, the bringer of death, was ironically the only Master to suffer fatal wounds. There was a massive shard of bark embedded in his skull, and his face was no longer recognizable.

_I’m sorry, Branson. I didn’t mean to_ , I averted my eyes and tried holding back tears.

Unfortunately, I had no time to grieve the death of my former comrade, as a bellowing roar sounded from above. It was Ylva screaming and writhing in pain after numerous pieces of tree bark had lodged themselves in her underbelly and legs. It was then that I noticed the all too familiar black anklet from when we were first captured, still hugging her hind leg.

I gasped. _That’s the ticket._ “Aim for the ankles!” I said, tapping on Ike’s shoulder.

The cobalt haired general looked up at the clawed serpent as he shielded his eyes from the rain, then at the other strange mages. “I see. I’ll do the best I can,” he nodded, readying Ragnell.

“Be careful,” I lowered the tone of my voice. “They’re strong.” I looked at the general with worried eyes.

But he didn’t seem worried at all. Instead, he glanced back at me with a stoic expression and said, “We’ll see about that.”

Just then, Ylva snarled, bearing her vicious dragon fangs as she dove down toward us.

“Get ready!” I shouted.

Then, right at the crucial moment before impact, time seemed to slow down as Ike sidestepped, pulling me along with him.

The dragon flew by, and her shining red scales sparkled in the rain and reflected distorted versions of our faces back at us. And just when Ylva’s hind leg was within reach, Ike slashed his blade forward. Not only did he cut through the beast’s tough thigh, but he also successfully snapped her anklet in two, causing the girl to immediately revert back to her humanoid form in midair. She nearly crashed into a couple other soldiers on the way down and ended up skidding to a stop on the muddy ground below, somewhere where neither of us could see her.

“You there!” Ike said, pointing at a random pair of Crimean halberdiers. “Take the fallen girl and keep her back until the fight is over!” he commanded.

The soldiers looked confused and frightened, but they obeyed his orders without question, hauling the now unconscious purple-haired mage away from the battlefield.

There were still three Masters left, but how would we get to them before they attacked us?

_I’ve got it!_ I smiled. I had a plan, but the other mages didn’t look too pleased.

Torvald in particular had a fierce glint in his lifeless eyes. He raised his arm up toward the sky and prepared to strike us down with lightning, but I knew all of his little tricks. In a flash, I summoned rock spikes in a circle around Ike and me, and they all jutted up to form a pointed roof over our heads.

“Ike. When this cover disappears, we’re going to approach them from behind more of my spikes. When the time is right, you’re going to jump out from behind them and cut as many anklets as you can,” I said while breathing heavily, awaiting the inevitable lightning bolt.

“Good plan,” he nodded, tightly gripping his sword.

BOOM! A blinding flash of light accompanied an ear shattering noise that shook the ground. Seconds later, the rocky cone around us quickly crumbled apart into fine grains of dust, allowing the downpour to fall upon our heads once more.

This was my cue to summon row after row of rock spikes as we neared the mages. But as we continued on our path, the downpour steadily became cold and painful.

_Helga is freezing the rain!_ I realized. “We have to hurry or this is going to get much worse,” I told Ike, feeling sharp needles of ice begin piercing my flesh.

Once the last rock barrier was summoned, the general sprang out from behind the collapsing wall of soil and ambushed the three mages. Before they could anticipate our next move, Ike swept low with his blade and cut through Torvald and Arvid’s anklets, but Helga was able to jump out of the way in the nick of time.

As Torvald fell unconscious, the dark storm clouds above us quickly faded into blue skies, and the tumultuous thunder finally quieted. The end of the storm also meant the end of the razor rains, thankfully.

Now, the sun shined brightly overhead, and the battlefield glistened beautifully in contrast with the chaos of the war.

Ike ordered more soldiers to capture the two mages that were defeated, but Helga still remained. And with everything covered in water, I already knew the horrors that could befall us. I could already see her glossy eyes fill with rage as she watched her comrades get dragged away.

The ice mage looked at me and hissed. “You foolisshhh cretins!” The woman opened her powerful tome, Hrímþurs, and started chanting sinister words, almost sounding like a snake when she did it.

Frost began spreading outwards from her being, and now it was impossible to step any closer to her unless we wanted to become statues and die of hypothermia.

_What do we do!?_ I panicked as both Crimean and Daein soldiers alike became stuck in the ever expanding circle of ice. But looking over at Ike, I saw that he was the exact opposite of scared.

He was so focused on Helga, seemingly calculating something, but I didn’t know what it was. He inhaled deeply and narrowed his ocean blue eyes. Then, he threw his _valuable_ and _one-of-a-kind_ sword at the woman like a madman. It rapidly spun in the air until it sliced clean through her anklet.

Witnessing the display, I had to do a double take, even a triple take, just to make sure I didn’t imagine it. _He did not just do that, he did not just do that, he...how the hell?_ I blinked.

The pieces of the black looplet then dropped onto the icy floor, as did Helga. With her collapse, the frost ceased to expand and lost its super-freezing capabilities.

“They weren’t that strong,” Ike stated calmly before running ahead to grab his blade that was lodged in the soil.

_I swear, this man continues to surprise me. And scare me. Thank the goddess I’m not his enemy._


	19. The Mad King's Shadow

With some of the Masters saved, the battle raged on. We advanced further into the castle’s courtyard, and the Crimean Army appeared to be in the lead. Despite our relatively rapid forward progress, however, the worst of the fight was far from over.

We started to approach an area of stone pavement just in front of the gardens surrounding the fountain when I felt a nearby presence that chilled me to the bone. The worst part was that I couldn’t locate the origin. It was like an omnipresent spirit was watching our every move from every possible location.

And although I found safety and comfort in being near Ike, even he was not enough to stave off my pervasive feelings of dread and fear.

It wasn’t until we reached the garden’s entrance that we were finally able to confront the man who I’m certain was the source of the unnerving sensations.

“So,” a somewhat familiar voice spoke, giving me goosebumps.

Immediately, my focus shifted to the source of the voice. I had heard it somewhere before! At least I thought. It was reminiscent of someone I’d met, but this one sounded lower and corrupted in a way; almost demonic.

The man was wearing a black and purple Samurai-like uniform that had the same glow as King Ashnard’s armor, and he had two swords in his hand. He was looking down, so his face was impossible to see.

Ike confronted the figure, and it was like the battle temporarily stopped. People from both sides stood and watched as our general took a step forward and uttered the first words of their exchange. “Who are you?” he snarled.

The mysterious man looked up, revealing his piercing, silver eyes.

_It couldn’t be!_ I gasped.

But alas, it was. It was the shopkeeper, and the interesting man who appeared as a messenger in our army. It was none other than Knox.

“It looks like my little plan failed,” Knox grimaced.

“What do you mean?” Ike asked.

Knox laughed. “Oh you know what I mean, fool. _I’m_ the reason you were so rudely attacked before coming here.”

Ike gasped at the man’s words. “You were the spy. And the shadow, weren’t you,” he spoke quietly as the realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

Knox laughed again. “It took you lot long enough to figure it out,” he hissed. “That girl by your side...was supposed to be fighting for Daein...not you!”

“Knox. What on earth are you going on about?” Ike growled, baring his teeth.

“My name...is not really Knox. And I’m not a messenger or a merchant,” he sneered. “I am General Kun Jin of the Daein Army. The newest of the Four Riders.”

“What the…” Ike said, dumbfounded.

_Kun Jin...I know that name!_ I realized.

“That’s right,” Kun Jin continued. “Most of you idiots were so distracted by the earth girl, thinking she was a spy, that you let me slip right under your very noses.” He sounded more and more rabid with every sentence. “Those bandits you faced...they were nothing more than a distraction. Pawns. You see—”

“Wait, why bandits of all people?” Ike interrupted. “You really couldn’t get anyone better?”

Kun Jin’s eye twitched. “Because, bandits would _never_ be traced back to the Daein Army. They’re _just_ bandits after all, right? And they’re just ruthless enough to get away with capturing my targets. After all,” he chuckled deeply. “I’ve seen what they can do. If they can raid an entire island of people like her and win, and for such a low price at that, her alone shouldn’t have been so much trouble.”

Ike tightened his grip on his sword’s hilt and scowled.

“But of course...they all failed this time, and you two still stand before me as enemies,” the opposing general hissed, then looked away. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“Hang on.” Ike raised an eyebrow. “You’re telling me you went through all that trouble just for one person?” he paused dramatically and then continued. “And you were too much of a weakling to do any of it yourself? You were literally in our army and _spoke_ to her.”

General Kun Jin shook his head and quivered as he looked at me. “I…” For a second, his silver eyes turned into a warm, earthy brown, much like my own, then immediately reverted back to their original steely color. “I have my reasons for doing what I did, but I’m not telling the likes of you. And she may be just another person in your eyes, but not to me. With her on our side...our chances of winning would have skyrocketed.”

Ok, sure, I was a powerful mage, but...I didn’t know about being able to skyrocket anyone’s chances of winning. I had a feeling we were still missing something. His sudden change of eye color made me wonder—

“This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Ike said dryly.

“You just don’t get it, do you.” Kun Jin looked down, appearing slightly troubled.

“What do you mean?” Ike questioned.

In an instant, Kun Jin’s expression hardened, and he growled fiercely. “Enough talking!” He backflipped a few times toward Ashnard, and sprung up onto a tall, stone pillar. From his perch, he began yelling. “Our minions will continue to wear you lot down, and by the time you reach the rest of us, you won’t have a fighting chance!” The maniac general cackled, glaring down at us from above. He temporarily sheathed one of his swords and sounded a battle horn, reawakening all of the soldiers from their trances.

“Ugh, the coward.” Ike rolled his eyes before commanding his army to continue their onslaught.

Sucking in my breath, I tried to temporarily forget about the surprising revelation from just minutes ago. I had to mentally prepare myself for the challenging, new set of enemies that were now charging toward us. I could already see how skilled those units were, so Ike and I would definitely have to keep working as a team.

With this in mind, we advanced together toward the fountain. My keen senses allowed me to spot two snipers in the distance who were carefully aiming their arrows at Ike through the fountain’s falling film of water. I doubted he saw them since he seemed too preoccupied with a couple of troublesome swordmasters, so I jumped at the chance to cast a simple earth spell at the bowman pair, piercing them and flinging their unsuspecting bodies into the air.

Taking notice of the distant commotion, Ike turned to me with pride-filled eyes, making everything else seem like it was in slow motion. “Good job,” he praised, but his kind expression was short lived. “Watch your flank, get to my other side!” he ordered.

Hastily springing toward Ike, I narrowly escaped the downward swing of a warrior’s axe. Instead of hitting me, it crashed into the stone pavement. It sounded like the warrior was readying another swing, but like the good partner Ike was, he covered me and ferociously attacked the axe wielder while I directed my next attack at an approaching horde of enemies. Most of them were killed on impact, but unfortunately, a few of them survived.

“Dammit,” I cursed. I started to ready another spell, but Ike was quick to whip around and jump ahead of me, finishing off the remaining members of the horde before I even had a chance to say two words.

Wasting no time at all, we dashed past the deceased horde and made our way around the fountain. It was then that we noticed that our allies were far less abundant than they used to be. We were worried it was a sign of us losing, but it appeared that most of them had simply gone around toward the exterior stairways. Unfortunately for Ike and I, this left the two of us and the few that followed much more vulnerable to enemy soldiers. They were already pouring in from the fountain area’s side entrances behind us.

“We need backup!” Ike yelled. “They’re executing a pincer attack!”

Hearing Ike’s call, Titania and some other paladins quickly diverted their paths and headed through the back entrance of the enclosure, and I could see Princess Elincia and other pegasus knights fly in from over the walls, too.

However, they didn’t arrive soon enough. In seconds, we were completely surrounded by mobs of Daein soldiers.

I realized we were already so close to the fountain’s exit, so I hastily sent my rock spikes through the group of enemies that blocked our way, and we were able to hurry out of the area before reinforcements closed the gap. I would have felt relieved had it not been for a giant red dragon stomping down the staircase in front of us.

Upon locking eyes with the beast, we froze in our tracks. The dragon had us trapped between itself and an incoming wall of soldiers from behind.

And before we could even think of a plan, the dragon opened its jaws as it prepared to attack. In a flash, Ike jumped out in front of me, and not even a second later, intense flames blasted out of the dragon’s mouth, nearly blinding us both.

As the roaring inferno surrounded us, Ike held his forearm in front of his face and grunted in pain.

“Ike!” I shouted, fearing for his life and my own.

But once the fire finally dissipated, I remained nearly unscathed. Unfortunately, it was only because Ike had taken the brunt of the attack in order to shield me from most of the damage.  
As for him, part of his figure was scorched, and I was honestly surprised he was still standing.

“Serena...don’t worry about me, I’m fine,” Ike grunted again before a faint blue light flashed around him. “Just...cover the exit behind us, I’ll handle the dragon!”

_That thing is like three times his size, there’s no way he can take it on single handedly!_ I thought worriedly. And it was no longer just the dragon he had to worry about. More Daein soldiers were starting to come in from behind it, and now there was no escape.

Soldiers continued coming in from behind me, too, so there was no time to fuss over my partner’s safety. Reluctantly, I turned around to face them. As I did, Ike screamed, and a terrifying roar and a loud thud followed his fierce cry, making it that much harder for me to _not_ turn back around. But I still had Daein soldiers to deal with, so I stayed intensely focused on the incoming enemies.

By casting stone spikes into the entryway, I managed to temporarily halt the influx of soldiers, killing the first few with the initial wave. Once those spikes returned to the earth, ripples of smaller spikes rapidly spread toward the fountain, badly wounding and killing many of the remaining enemies within the enclosure.

Unfortunately, my attack didn’t put an end to Daein’s attempts at encircling us. Enemy fighters continued pouring in from the far entrance to the fountain, and there was no way I could hold them all back myself! But just as quickly as I found myself panicking, relief washed over me once more as our allies took notice of the situation. Crimean soldiers stepped in from the sides and occupied the space just in front of the fountain area’s exit, so I was finally able to turn around to check on Ike.

When I did, the red dragon was dead on the ground with a pile of beorc corpses around it. And to my surprise, Ike’s burns were practically gone. It was almost as if he had never been attacked in the first place.

_How the hell?_ I wondered as I stared at him silently.

“Come on, let’s move forward, we don’t have time to waste!” he commanded and rushed ahead without looking back.

As I followed closely behind, we ascended the stairs to the second level of the courtyard between the two rectangular gardens.

Just when we thought we were going to make some serious forward progress, another enormous dragon came barreling toward us as Kun Jin leapt down from his pillar. He looked absolutely _pissed off_.

“Unbelievable,” the evil general hissed. “I watched you get hit point blank by that other dragon’s fire breath. How are you not dead?!”

“You underestimate me,” Ike stated.

Kun Jin growled and hopped away again, sending the dragon toward us. “Let’s see you get lucky a second time!”

Looking into the dragon’s eyes more closely this time, it appeared soulless. So did the other enemy laguz on the battlefield for that matter. Just mindless husks, presumably corrupted by the drug.

I shook my head. _To think that I was meant to be fighting for them..._

The dragon stared back at me with empty, black eyes. As it was about to rear its head back, Ike flashed blue once again and effortlessly slashed the beast open.

It shrieked in agony, and I had to look away.

Ike struck it again, and the dragon’s shrieks came to a halt as it collapsed to the ground.

_That could have been my fate...dying here on this battlefield like that,_ I thought, feeling slight sympathy for the thing.

“There’s no way!” Kun Jin shouted in disbelief. His deathly glare morphed into an evil grin, and then a maniacal laughter. “You know what, fine. Fine! Since none of my plans seem to work, I’ll just have to handle you myself!” He drew his other sword and scowled.

“Serena,” Ike said. “I’ve never fought someone with two swords.”

“How do you know he’s going to go after _you_?” I asked. For some reason Kun Jin was more obsessed with _me_ , so I had a feeling that I would be his main target instead of Ike. If my suspicion was correct, that would spell disaster for me, especially if he managed to separate us.

“It doesn’t matter if he does or doesn’t. I’m going to help protect you, so he’s going to have to deal with me no matter what,” the blue-haired boy said. “Just stay close to me.” He readied himself in a battle stance.

_Just staying close might not be enough_ , I thought nervously. “Wait!” I gasped, holding my finger up during my little eureka moment. “I have a better idea.” Admittedly, it was kind of crazy because I had never tested the idea out, but it was just crazy enough to work. Recalling the time I nearly fought on Ranulf’s back, I immediately suggested the same strategy.

“Are you sure about this?” Ike asked, seemingly unsure of my state-of-the-art schemes for some reason. But considering there was not a moment to sit and think, he had no choice but to acquiesce.

“If he has two weapons, then he’s gonna have to face two as well,” I smirked, climbing on Ike’s back and gripping onto his sky blue cape. “We are now...a...bage.”

The blue haired general turned his head back and gave me a ‘what the hell is wrong with you’ kind of look. “Beige?”

I laughed nervously. “Beorc plus mage equals bage.”

Upon hearing my glorious word mashup, the boy groaned. “Please stop.”

Sadly, there was no more time for my top-of-the-line comedy, because the Daein general was already preparing an attack.

I tried to land a preemptive strike with one of my spells, but Kun Jin was completely unscathed. Not even a crack appeared in his strange armor.

The evil general cackled. “I don’t know what you two are up to, but I know all about your earth attacks!” he yelled, dashing in our direction.

Ike remained stationary, seeming unsure of what to do next. I had no idea how to fight this guy either, so I was unable to provide him with any assistance. But after a moment of thinking, Ike shifted to a more powerful stance, and I could feel confidence begin to surge through him. “Serena, clearly your attacks won’t do any good against him,” he spoke in a low voice. “Try to block some of his attacks instead.”

“I’ll...I’ll try,” I said, not knowing if I would actually be able to.

Finally, the wicked general was upon us, and he jumped high into the air, preparing to strike us with both of his sharpened blades.

As a reaction to the incoming attack, I instinctively summoned a rock spike from the ground. It was supposed to be a normal spell, but it was cast in such a way that it curved over me and Ike and obstructed Kun Jin’s trajectory.

“Woah!” Kun Kin yelped. He shifted position in midair and landed on the stone, but it immediately disintegrated underneath him.

Then, Ike slashed powerfully from below, sending Kun Jin flying onto the pavement. He skidded and tumbled, but was still very much alive. However, there was a noticeable crack in his once pristine armor, right where Ike’s sword had made contact.

Kun Jin grimaced. “No...Serena...it wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“Sorry, but you don’t write the history books,” Ike said, striding powerfully toward the injured man.

Quickly rolling to the side, the opposing general was already back on his feet. “Not...like this,” he said, attempting to charge at us once more.

I tried blocking his path with a wall of stone spikes, but he was too quick, and he somersaulted over both the spikes and our heads. On his way down, he landed two fierce blows on us, one on my back, and one on Ike’s triceps.

The two of us winced, and I sealed my eyes in pain. Ike was quick to rebound from the attack, however. He whipped around and attempted to slash the Daein general, but his strike was blocked and swiftly countered. Blood started to ooze out of the new cut on Ike’s right cheek.

“Too slow,” Kun Jin smirked, backflipping away from us. And with a burst of incredible speed, he started his third charge toward us.

At the last second, I cast a spell just under Ike’s feet at an oblique angle so that the tip never touched him. The stone appeared much too suddenly for Kun Jin to react, and he ran face first into the thing while Ike and I were merely pushed backward. The impact stunned the Daein general, causing him to wobble.

Just as the spike disintegrated, Ike swung his sword down hard through the dust and onto Kun Jin. It was predicted and blocked, but the force of Ike’s swing was too great for the man to withstand. Kun Jin’s own swords (the flat part of the blades) smacked him square in the face and stunned him again.

“Too weak,” Ike growled. His entire body flashed blue for a second before he slashed the general’s open side. Then, like magic, the cut on Ike’s cheek disappeared before my very eyes.  
Kun Jin finally collapsed onto the pavement under the weight of three swords and struggled to get back up again. “Not...not like this,” he groaned in pain, locking his cold eyes onto mine. And for another second, his eyes turned brown again.

Not noticing the color change, Ike continued to advance until he was standing over Kun Jin’s tired body. When he started to speak, strong emotions inundated his voice. “All the pain and torment you’ve caused this girl and our army. You...will...pay…” he snarled as he raised his sword.

For a moment, Kun Jin laid still in a slowly growing pool of his own blood, gawking at the golden blade that threatened to puncture his chest. “Wait...no!” The thought of his demise granted him just enough energy to move out of the way and shakily stand up once more. “I...I must fall back.” He staggered backward away from Ike, nearly falling down again, and his brown eyes made one last appearance. “It wasn’t...supposed to be like this…”

“Why do you keep saying that?” Ike hissed.

“It doesn’t matter!” The opposing general blinked, and his silver eyes returned. “Just...just kill...Ashnard…” he spoke painfully, clutching the deep gash in his side.

Upon hearing the man’s words, Ike’s muscles relaxed and he lowered his weapon slightly. He watched the other general hobble away toward the castle and quickly lost sight of him, so we never knew if he lived or died. But because of the severity of his wounds, his death was nearly certain.

“Ike,” I whispered. “What...what just happened?”

“I’m not sure,” Ike responded as he tightened his grip on Ragnell’s hilt. “But it’s time to move forward.”

Not wasting a second more, we continued to push through Daein’s forces with the rest of the Crimean Army following suit. It was a strenuous task for sure, and many of our comrades were not so lucky. Behind us, the blood and dead bodies of soldiers from both sides littered the courtyard.

Finally, we approached the frightful man ahead: the Mad King Ashnard himself.

Titania, Elincia, and others began storming up the stairs, but they kept their distance, waiting for Ike’s orders.

Ashnard sneered as he looked at Ike square in the eye. “Son of Gawain...and the earth girl. Worthy opponents indeed.”

“King Ashnard of Daein,” Ike addressed him and pointed his blade at the royal. “Your time has come!”

“Oh?” the king laughed. “That blade of yours...is the only type of blade that can pierce my armor. Such a blade should only be in the hands of the most skilled warriors, otherwise it amounts to nothing more than a useless metal rod.”

Ike scowled. “You’ll see for yourself how useless it is.”

Ashnard laughed again. “Don’t worry, I don’t doubt your skills in the slightest, son of Gawain. I expect good things from you, as you have done well against my finest soldiers. Now, you have reached your final test.”

“Serena. Stand back,” Ike commanded.

I was somewhat saddened by the request, but I knew that it was the best course of action. My attacks probably wouldn’t be any good against the king, and I would only weigh the boy down. So, I obliged and quickly hopped off Ike’s back. As soon as I started backing away, however, I began to fear for Ike’s life more than ever, even more than my own. That king looked stronger than ten dragons combined.

I thought he would take the first opportunity to attack Ike where he stood, but to my surprise, Ashnard just sat on his dragon and stared. He was waiting for Ike to make the first move.

After about ten seconds, Ike jumped up and prepared to slash downward, but at the last second, he changed the position of his sword and skillfully cut Ashnard’s side.

Ashnard flinched in surprise, and his face soured. “Clever boy. This will be fun.” Then, his sinister smile returned, and he pulled a strange medallion out of his pocket that pulsed with toxic energy.

Upon looking at the medallion, I felt a sharp pain in my head, and I had to turn away.

“What...what are you doing?” Ike asked nervously.

Ashnard grinned. “You’ll see for yourself!”

“NO! WAIT! You idiot!!” Ike shouted.

Suddenly, a maniacal roar erupted from the king as the energy from the medallion flooded his very soul. His sinister grin was now far more menacing, and his body exuded an enormous amount of darkness, visible to everyone. The king was now a monster.

At that point, I had no idea how any of us would make it out alive. I started to panic. But then, I noticed that his once impenetrable armor was now cracked from the excess energy, and its strange glow seemed to diminish. _Does that mean what I think it means?_ I wondered.

“Flee! Get away, everyone!” Ike’s orders, for the first time ever, sounded irrational and desperate.

I knew that wasn’t a good sign, but I just didn’t feel inclined to agree with him. I couldn’t just leave him alone against THAT. But at the same time...the surge of dark energy was becoming too much for me to handle, and I could feel myself begin to lose consciousness.

“Ike, we can’t leave you here!” A voice shouted. It was an allied dragon laguz with long, pale blue hair. “We need backup, call one of the battalion commanders!”

The general scowled. “That won’t be necessary, we have everyone we need!” 

The laguz replied with a horrified shout. “Are you crazy?! I...very well...I won’t tell you otherwise,” he said reluctantly. But instead of leaving, the laguz man stayed in his place and became shrouded in a bright light, tripling in size as he transformed into the only white dragon I’ve seen to date. He stepped up toward Ashnard while the others stayed back and watched.

King Ashnard, after completely losing his mind, screamed and soared high into the sky on his mount, then quickly came diving down with his massive sword and aimed at Ike.

Ike managed to block the strike with a loud clang, but I could tell he was struggling immensely.

The white dragon attempted to save him by exhaling a brilliant white magic at the king, but he only managed to deal minor damage. At the very least, he succeeded in drawing Ashnard’s attention away from Ike, but unfortunately for the laguz, his breath attack was immediately countered with a furious slash, causing the dragon to bellow in pain.

I had thought that only Ike’s sword could go through the king’s armor, but the dragon’s attack seemed to prove me wrong. Maybe the cracks in the armor had something to do with it, but I honestly had no idea. I had to come up with _some_ kind of plan if I wanted to test my theory, and fortunately for me, Ike and the dragon served as an excellent distraction, so Ashnard barely got the chance to focus on me while I brainstormed.

After countless blocks and dodges from both ends, Ike managed to land another blow on Ashnard, but his sword only grazed him. And much to everyone’s chagrin, the attack only angered the king even more and seemed to double his power.

Then came the moment I feared the most. Ashnard hollered, and he finally locked his crazed eyes onto me.

_Oh goddess, no!_ I panicked, feeling my stomach drop.

He flew at me with blinding speed and I instinctively sidestepped, but I lost my footing and slipped onto the stone. Ashnard could have easily doubled back and landed a hard hit on me, but he instead shifted his focus back to Ike, who was now yelling obscene things at the man, angering him beyond what I thought was possible.

“I...WILL...WEAR...YOU...ALL...DOWN...GRRAAAHHHH!” Ashnard bellowed. He charged at Ike, slashing him across the chest before he could deflect the hit, then followed up with a swift attack across the white dragon laguz.

Ike fell backward, skidding on the stone, but he quickly righted himself. A thick line of blood was starting to seep through his shirt, however, and his face showed an intense amount of pain. He looked at me worriedly.

Still without a strategy in mind, I stumbled to my feet and continued to panic. When I finally got up, I saw that the king was looking at me with murder in his eyes. _Oh no oh no oh no, someone do something_ , I gritted my teeth.

And as if he could read my mind, the white dragon expelled more magic at the king, hoping to catch Ashnard’s attention again, but it didn’t work this time. The king’s eyes were still locked onto me, and it was clear nothing was going to stand in his way.

“Earth...girl…” his voice hissed. His mount beat its wings, and he started to accelerate toward me. In a panic, I summoned rock spikes, hoping to block him, but it was no use. The mount easily flew through the pillar like it was made of feathers, and his massive sword painfully pierced my flesh before I could process his immense power and speed. It wedged itself very deep into my side, and it was worse than any other pain I’ve felt in my life. I gasped and keeled over, clutching my side that was now soaked with blood.

“Serena!” Ike yelled, beginning to run toward me.

The pain was so intense, it was impossible for me to focus on anything else, and I was sure I was going to die right then and there. My vision, along with the pain, was starting to fade. But instead of complete darkness, there was a bright white light, and a faint assortment of rainbow colors. _This is it...I’m dead..._

“Serena…” Ike’s voice said. It sounded strange. It was muffled, but it also sounded extremely close. Like it was coming from within my own head. “Attack…” he said. “Attack now…” He sounded desperate. “Attack…”

With my vision still clouded, it was impossible to tell if I was already dead. But then, I felt myself stand up. Every inch of my body felt an incredible warmth, more intense and powerful than ever before. It was like my entire being was now made of this light and heat that I saw before me, and I felt so...alive. Through the bright haze, I could barely make out an enormous plume of orange light and flying stone, seeming to extend infinitely high into the heavens. Then, nothingness. The warmth I felt, the light, and all my senses disappeared in an instant.


	20. After the War

Bright, blurry lights flooded my vision, and I could feel what seemed like a hand gently holding my head. Someone was kneeling beside me. I couldn’t see their face just yet, but I saw a splash of blue and immediately knew who it was.

“What...happened?” I groaned weakly, squinting at a hazy version of Ike’s face. “Am I...am I dead?”

Upon hearing my voice, Ike’s gaze softened. “No,” he said quietly.

I sat up slowly, feeling my head begin to hurt as my senses returned to normal. “I’m...I’m not?” I asked, giving him a confused glance.

The blue haired general shook his head. “No. You were very close to it, though. But...whatever you did...was amazing,” he smiled at me, loosely supporting my back to make sure I was stable.

“Wait...what did I even do?” I asked. All I could remember was a mess of lights, warmth, and voices, but I could see now that there were masses of Crimean soldiers circling around something I couldn’t fully see, and none of them were fighting. That meant _some_ thing must have happened.

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ike replied. “It looked sort of like that one spell you used at the collapsed tower. But...this seemed ten times stronger. And it was probably the reason the scales tipped in our favor.”

Everything he said matched up with the ultimate version of my spell, Feigr, but I was never able to master it before. Not even back when I was on the island. As strange as that was, I was in no position to figure it out at that moment. My side was still throbbing (even though it had clearly been healed), and my head pain would only ease up a little if I rubbed it. And aside from the pain, I couldn’t help but focus on the nearby circle of soldiers.

They were talking quietly amongst each other, and something big was stirring in the center. Eager to see what was happening, I tried to stand up, but I was still too weak to do it myself. So, Ike helped me up and supported my wobbling self as we approached the scene.

There was a gap between some of the people, so we pushed our way through to the inner circle. In the center was the king’s mount crouched on the ground and breathing heavily. At first, I was scared that it would spring up from its perch and wreak havoc on the lot of us, but I quickly figured out how misunderstood I was. The dragon’s demonic exterior meant nothing when one look into its yellow, glassy eyes told me that it was innocent, and just wanted to be left in peace.

All of a sudden, a pink-haired dragon laguz dashed through the crowd toward the mount with great concern warping her soft features.

“Ena!” Ike shouted at the girl. “Stay back!”

Then, the pale-blue-haired dragon laguz from earlier stepped in. “Ike...let them be.”

Temporarily silenced, Ike raised an eyebrow. “Nasir, what’s going on?” he asked, confused.

Nasir lowered his gaze. “That dragon...is actually her mate. With his death near, and his sanity regained, he is no longer a threat to any of us.”

Despite the laguz’s intelligent response, Ike looked even more perplexed than before. “Do dragon laguz...mate...with wyvern mounts?”

Nasir inhaled sharply, but before he could answer Ike’s question, Reyson made an abrupt appearance along with a heron woman I had never met before.

From where I was, I could barely hear the heron woman speak. Her voice was soft, like a calm breeze, but I could still tell that she was talking in the ancient tongue. She was saying something about how the dragon mount was actually a laguz, and that she wanted to try singing to it.

_They want to sing to it?_ I thought. _But that can only mean..._

The two herons began singing the Galdr of Rebirth. And just like with the warped lion laguz, the dragon mount became enveloped in a warm, pure light that obscured its transformation back into a humanoid. When the light faded, there was a man lying still on the cold, stone surface where the mount once was. He looked so weak and lifeless, but yet, so at peace as the toxic energy evaporated from his system.

The pink-haired dragon laguz sprinted closer to the weakened man and kneeled down beside him, talking to him quietly. It was just like Ike had done for me not too long ago, but I wasn’t sure if the laguz would be fortunate enough to survive like I did.

“Serena,” Ike turned to me and smiled, pulling my attention away from the scene. “The war is finally over,” he said, as if to keep me from thinking about the poor laguz. (Spoiler alert: it worked).

I smiled back. “Right. I...I almost can’t believe it.”

Soon, people started to take their focus away from the two dragon laguz, just as I had. It was like they all realized the same thing at the same time: all the trouble, corruption, pain, and suffering from the war was now (mostly) over. Now, there were smiles, chatter, and lively conversations filling the air. I could almost _feel_ the positive energy radiating from everyone.

It nearly made me want to celebrate with them all, but when tons of people suddenly surrounded us and wanted to talk to Ike, the ever-growing size of the crowd began to get too overwhelming for my liking. Most of them were congratulating him, thanking him, praising him, or shamelessly flirting with him, but then some people started wanting to talk to _me_ too, wondering who I really was, where I came from, or how I met Ike, and I was _not_ having it. So, while Ike and most others were distracted, I slid away (with as much strength as I could muster) and hid myself in one of the courtyard’s gardens, far away from everyone else.

I thought I would finally get a moment of peace, but not even two minutes after I got there, I heard people approaching me from behind. Irritated, I whipped around only to see it wasn’t just any old crowd of people coming my way, it was the other Masters: Arvid, Ylva, Torvald, and Helga.

_They’re not going to attack me are they?_ I reacted instinctively and clutched my tome, feeling my heart rattle my ribs. But as they drew nearer, I could see that the lifelessness that once possessed them had been replaced with warmth and joy. And as they fixed their gazes on me, their eyes sparkled.

Staying frozen in my place, I stared at them, not knowing how to approach them or what to say.

Thankfully, after what felt like minutes, Helga slowly stepped toward me and broke the awkward silence between us. “Serena?” her old voice shook.

Upon hearing her speak, I lowered my guard a little bit, but it had been so long since I last interacted with them normally that I still didn’t feel comfortable at all. They were basically strangers. “What...what happened to you guys?” I managed to ask.

Torvald combed his electric-blue hair with his fingers as he spoke up. “Truth be told, we don’t really remember,” he replied. “At least not after we arrived in Daein.”

“Wait...what do you mean?” I questioned.

“Well,” Arvid coughed as he prepared to tell his story. “The four of us was transpo’d by boat directly to Daein, and we were told somethin’ bout joinin’ their army. We didn’t want to, but then they kept us locked away for years tryin’ to get us to comply! We never did, so eventually they gave up and gave us some big ol’ anklet, even bigger than the one those thugs threw at us on the island, and suddenly all we could think bout was fightin’ for Daein. An’ now we’re here! Well, actually, some heron folk were standin’ round us when we woke, an’ then we was bout to leave, but then we saw you here!”

Torvald nodded. “Yeah, that about sums it up.”

“Wait,” I said. “You mean to tell me that after the raid on our island, you _weren’t_ kept by the bandits first?”

“Nope,” Ylva said. “Some guy named Kun Jin was supposed to gather us all up as per Ashnard’s orders. But he seemed most interested in capturing _you_ for some reason, so when you weren’t there, he was _mad._ ”

I remembered General Kun Jin saying something like that on the battlefield, but I had no idea why he cared about me in particular so much. “Why me above the rest of you?” I asked them, hoping to find something out.

“We don’t know,” Ylva shrugged. “What we told you is basically all we really remember until now.”

“Hey, sorry to interrupt, but...” Torvald spoke. “Have you seen Branson anywhere?”

_Oh goddess, no, don’t remind me!_ My heart dropped. “Um...well...you see...he kind of...d-died in battle,” I stuttered.

Instantly, everyone’s faces dropped.

“Oh my...I can’t believe we don’t even remember that,” Helga furrowed her white brow. “He...he deserved more than to meet such a fate…”

The other Masters lowered their eyes and fixed their gazes on the cold earth, not knowing what to say.

Out of fear, guilt, and discomfort, I never told them it was basically my fault. I felt that doing so would only cause a rift between me and them, so I just followed their lead and stared at the ground instead.

After a moment of grim silence, Helga’s voice brought everyone’s attention back from their period of mourning. “Branson’s untimely death aside, we should be going,” she said coldly.

“What? Already?” I frowned. “But...we just got reunited. Where to?”

“Back to the island. Aren’t you coming?” Torvald looked at me intently. “We have a long journey ahead of us, so it’s best we don’t stick around too long. Besides, we can catch up more on the way.”

_Shoot, **am** I going?_ A pit formed in my stomach once I realized that I had no plan for after the war. As much as I wanted to see my homeland again and be together with my fellow Masters, I felt like I still had unfinished business on Tellius. For one thing, I hadn’t seen Ranulf since before the surprise attack. It wouldn’t be right to just up and leave my friend without a proper farewell first. And I didn’t want to leave Ike either. But then again...I was convinced he didn’t have any sort of feelings for me beyond friends. That was the impression I got anyway, so staying with him might have been too painful. Considering all the uncertainty, I wasn’t ready to make a decision. So, I bought myself some time by telling them I was going to wait until my friend recovered.

“Alrighty then,” Arvid nodded. “You can come an’ join us whenever you’re ready.”

“Please do,” Helga added. “We wish to reconnect with you once more.”

“See ya soon, I guess,” Torvald saluted before turning away with the rest of the Masters.

As I watched the four of them leave the courtyard and head off into the distance, I felt a little bit empty inside. It was like losing family all over again, even though I wasn’t as close with them anymore. But at the same time...I could always catch up to them later, and I enjoyed having some solitude after such a long and stressful day. Without all the fighting, screaming, bloodshed, and corruption, it was actually quite peaceful. Just happy voices in the distance, the gentle sound of the fountain, and the chirps of birds that had begun returning to the area. The sight of...dead bodies...was also...uh...relaxing. (Not).

Anyway, I managed to stay hidden for about a half hour before I was rudely discovered by Ike.

He had come after me because he “didn’t want me hiding from everyone” (eye roll), so he dragged me back to the commotion and I was forced to talk with complete strangers! I don’t know how Ike handled it so well, because being endlessly bombarded with questions wasn’t exactly fun.

Fortunately, it all died down after a while when people started going their separate ways, saying their farewells to their comrades, their leaders, and even their not-quite-as-good friends.

“Ranulf,” I remembered. “Where is he? Is he ok?”

“He’s resting in the palace now,” Ike replied calmly.

“Oh my gosh, is that code for: he’s dead?” I panicked.

“What? No,” Ike chuckled. “He was just relocated there. Soren too. They’ll be ok. But we should wait at least a day before seeing them. They need to rest.”

“Oh, thank the goddess,” I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

Noticing my child-like grin after hearing the news, Ike glanced down at me and smiled sweetly. But instead of saying anything, he let another light chuckle escape his lips.

“What?” I asked, blushing as I returned his gaze.

“Ranulf was right,” he answered. “You’re an odd one.”

My blush deepened. “Gee. You _just_ figured that out?” I crossed my arms, feigning anger.

“Yes, Serena.” Ike said, mimicking my posture. “I’ve been a blind fool this entire time, and am just now figuring this out.”

The sarcasm was just _dripping_ from his voice, and it was impossible for me to resist firing back with something. But of course, before I could even _think_ two words, Princess Elincia decided to approach us.

“Pardon me,” she said delicately, looking between me and Ike. “We will be having a feast this evening to celebrate our victory. The palace is perfectly intact, so it will be hosted within the dining hall. You will join us won’t you?”

“Of course,” Ike replied in a more formal tone. “Is it soon?”

“Yes, milord,” the princess nodded. “We’re just beginning to seat people, so you may come inside.” She ended with a smile, and with a swish of her dress, she strode into the grand establishment.

With that, Ike led me inside the castle after the princess, and we found ourselves in a huge entrance hall. There were white marble pillars lining both sides of the room, extending all the way up to the high ceilings, and two large windows at the front brilliantly illuminated everything in front of us.

_To think, just this morning this beautiful place was under the control of that crazy, ugly king,_ I thought as I looked around in awe.

When we entered the dining hall, I was astounded at the size of the place. The cloth-covered table in the center was extremely long, and looked like it could seat upward of forty-five people. Above us, there were numerous banners hanging down from the high, stone ceilings. Many of them were now of Daein origin, but some vandalized Crimean flags still remained.

At the table, I saw that Titania and a few others I recognized were already seated, but there were so many refined-looking nobles that I _didn’t_ recognize, so I immediately felt myself tense up. “Ike?” I asked, tapping on his shoulder as we walked around the table’s perimeter to our seats. “Do I have to be here?”

“Yes,” he said, kindly pulling out my chair for me.

“Oh, uh, thank you,” I said, stiffly taking a seat on the chair’s velvety surface.

Ike nodded and took the seat next to me by the table’s end. Titania was now at my other side, and as she watched how the blue-haired boy interacted with me, she couldn’t help but smile to herself.

“Impressive work today,” she suddenly said to me, drawing my attention away from the table’s shiny wood. “I had a feeling you had great potential.”

Thanking the woman, I looked back down at the table shyly. I was hoping that would end the conversation since I wasn’t particularly in the mood to talk much, but unfortunately for me, she continued speaking.

“You and Ike seem to work well together, too,” she said, resting her chin on the palm of her hand as she looked at us with her sparkling green eyes.

_Does she really think so?_ I thought as I looked back at her wordlessly.

“What’s that?” Ike turned to us upon hearing his name.

“Just telling your friend a job well done,” Titania beamed at the boy.

Before anyone could say anything else, Princess Elincia entered the room, causing everyone to fall silent. She held the sides of her dress, being careful not to trip over it as she hurried over to the rest of us. She went over to the chair at the head of the table, next to Ike, but remained standing as she surveyed all of us.

She started talking about the war and stuff, but honestly, I zoned out and just pretended to pay attention. It’s not that I didn’t care about what she had to say, I was just too dang tired to focus on a speech.

Once her brief address ended, she finally took her seat, cueing the vibrant chatter from before to resume. The sound of silverware against ceramic dishes filled the air as hungry nobles dug into the piles of food in the center of the table. I mean, wow, there was _so_ much food. Full pheasants, bowls of lush greens, vegetables of all kinds, and two or three varieties of soup. There were breads and an assortment of finger foods, too.

Needless to say, the choices were overwhelming. So, I just took a little bit of each until my plate was about half-full.

“That’s it?” Ike asked, gawking at my plate.

I turned to him, then I looked down at his plate, and I just about choked on nothing. His singular plate might as well have had three plates worth of food on it! “Well excuuuuse me, _sir_ , I don’t have the appetite of an entire army, ok?” I laughed before shoving a small forkful of salad into my mouth.

“Oh, this is normal for him, Serena,” Titania chuckled lightly. “That’s why—”

“Titania,” Ike interrupted, sternly glaring at the red-haired woman. “Now’s not the time for that story.”

“But I love stories!” I whined. Now I _had_ to hear it.

“Too bad,” Ike grumbled before biting into a pheasant leg.

“But—”

“Nope,” the boy silenced me.

Titania laughed to herself as she watched our little exchange, then turned to whoever was on her left. Since the princess was also busy talking with someone else, Ike and I finally had some time to talk with each other.

At first neither of us said anything, but after around a minute of listening to the ambient chatter, Ike spoke up.

“Serena,” he said as he glanced at me briefly. “You know, now that the war’s over, things are going to be different for all of us.”

“Oh, for sure. Like, I probably won’t have to worry about too many bandits anymore,” I smiled. “Thank you so much for your help with that, by the way.”

Ike nodded in response. “Of course,” he said stiffly, keeping his eyes locked onto his food.

I thought he would say more, since he was the one who started the conversation to begin with, but he just absentmindedly chewed his food and allowed an awkward silence to fester. He looked concerned or preoccupied with something.

_What could it be?_ I wondered. The war was over, so I didn’t think there would be as much to worry about anymore. “Something the matter?” I asked him.

Ike shook his head. “No, don’t worry about it,” he paused and clenched his jaw, keeping his gaze averted.

I could tell that he was lying through his teeth. Something was definitely on his mind, but I had no idea what it was.

“Did you end up talking to those friends of yours?” Ike asked, finally turning to me. “They healed up well, so I figured they’d seek you out.”

“Yeah,” I said, returning his gaze. “I spoke with them, but only for a little. They’ve gone back home now.”

“Gone back...home?” Ike locked his blue eyes onto mine. “How come you didn’t go with them?”

I furrowed my brow. The way he asked that question made it seem like he wanted me gone, and suddenly, I felt flustered. “I don’t know, I…maybe I will. But I want to see Ranulf recover first before I make that decision. If I’m allowed to stay until then, anyway.” I looked down at my plate, which now had only a few scraps of food left.

“You should be able to,” Ike said blankly. “Hold on.” Momentarily, he turned to Princess Elincia and got her attention. He spoke to her quietly, so I couldn’t hear what he was saying over the voices of everyone else in the room. After about a minute, he shifted his attention back to me. “Serena,” he said.

While he was talking to the princess, I had been absentmindedly picking at the last few leaves of lettuce on my plate, so his voice shocked me a little, causing me to jump in my chair. “Ah! Oh, yes?” I squeaked.

“You’ll have a bedroom here in the palace for a little while,” he smiled slightly. “The rest of us will be busy, so maybe you can find a way to help us out while you’re here.”

I should have felt happy that I would get to stay in a _palace_ , but I honestly felt a little undeserving of that privilege. “Um...thank you,” I muttered, bowing my head shyly. 

That night, I lay awake in the most luxurious bed I’ve ever been in. The plush futon underneath me and the silky, satin sheets that covered my body made me feel like a queen. It should have been relaxing, and I should have fallen asleep almost immediately. After all, the war that caused all my troubles was finally over, and I was _tired_. That should have been enough. But even _still_ , I couldn’t stop my dumb brain from racing and keeping me awake. Now I had nothing else to think about except that one, nagging question: should I go back home to the island, or stay with Ike and his crew?

My mind wasn’t yet made up, but my gut had other ideas. Every time I thought about staying, there would be this sinking feeling in my stomach, as if it were telling me that I didn’t belong, or that it wasn’t meant to be.

I badly wanted to ignore that feeling, but the more I did, the more it would force its way back into the forefront of my mind.

“Ohh,” I spoke softly to myself, clutching my sheets between my dainty fingers. “I can’t stay with them.”


End file.
